
Class (k 44 
Book iXLA 



DOBELL COLLECTION 



A TOUR 



ROUND THE WORLD 



BY AN 

EX-LORD PROVOST 



OF GLASGOW, "\0\vw. 



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OUTWARDS-INDIA, AUSTRALIA. 



PRINTED BY 
ROBERT ANDERSON, 22 ANN STREET, GLASGOW. 

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It will be seen that the following pages contain merely 
a record of impressions formed on a voyage round the 
world, a voyage made on the well-known beaten track. 
The places and incidents described are familiar to the 
ordinary traveller. The descriptions are mostly from 
memory unaided by notes; no profession is made of 
minute and exhaustive discussion. The Lecture is printed 
as it was delivered. It was delivered to audiences of 
different kinds; parts were selected to suit the different 
hearers; the sole excuse for printing at first was for 
convenience of selection of parts for delivery. That 
it now appears in its present form is due to the wish 
expressed by some friends, to read what they had not 
the opportunity of hearing. 

JOHN URE. 

Cairndhu, 

by Helensburgh, X.B., 

May, 188$. 



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A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



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FTER seven-and-twenty years of continuous service 
in the Town Council, I felt that I had earned a 
rest, and I thought it best, when leaving the civic chair, 
to take my holiday then, and make a complete break 
between the work which hitherto I had been interested 
in and that with which I was henceforth to be engaged. 
Another reason I could give, if the whole truth must 
be told. I cherished the hope that, after a long absence, 
I might easily return to the city unnoticed and take my 
place quietly amongst my fellow-citizens. The first 
object of my leaving has been accomplished. I have had 
the relaxation, and a complete change of employment; 
but my appearance here this evening in this public 
capacity is an evidence that the fond hope of future 
privacy has altogether failed. 

I had not long returned, when a polite note from 
the Secretary of the Athenaeum informed me that the 
Directors of the Institution had in view a course of 
lectures for this winter; and that they were of opinion 
that a few words from me on the tour I had just com- 
pleted, or on any part of it, would be very acceptable 
to the members. I replied to Mr. Lauder that I had 
not been anywhere that was not well known already. 
We followed the ordinary tourist route, which guide 
books and travellers' diaries made familiar to all ; and 



A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



as I had not had the advantage which a predecessor 
in office — Sir James Bain — had enjoyed of exploring 
territory which no European had previously visited, I 
could not add to the information already in possession of 
the public ; and further, that not having contemplated 
any such occasion as this, I had not been particular in 
noting such incidents as would make a lecture either 
interesting or instructive. This answer did not satisfy 
the Directors. A deputation from them waited on me 
at Helensburgh urging a reconsideration of my decision, 
as they still believed the personal observations of one 
so well known would be relished by my fellow-citizens. 
At length I yielded to their solicitations, upon their 
agreeing to accept all the responsibility of disappoint- 
ment and failure. 

When I began to think what I should say to you, I 
soon came to the conclusion that if I was to convey an 
intelligent idea of our whole journey, I must not be 
particularly minute in description — that, to avoid undue 
discursiveness, I must commit to writing what I meant 
to say; and that I would more likely succeed in con- 
veying correctly my impressions by using a plain con- 
versational style than by making any attempt at fine 
writing. My paper, then, is mainly unadorned narrative. 

Our party consisted of my wife and daughter, my 
youngest son and myself, and I need hardly tell you 
that such a journey as we contemplated required some 
previous preparation. There was the heat of India 
to be encountered, and the cold of a New Zealand 
winter to provide for ; there were long sea voyages 
in our programme, and much land journeying by 
road and rail. The clothing suitable for all these 



DEPARTURE BAY OF BISCAY — CAPE F1NISTERRE. 



varied conditions had to be carried with us. Our 
heavy baggage, however, gave us little concern through- 
out the first stage of our journey, for we got our boxes 
on board the City of Cambridge, a 4,000-ton steamer, 
of Messrs. George Smith & Sons', at the Harbour of 
Glasgow, which carried us safely to Calcutta. 

Our original intention, I may say, was to have 
travelled round the world, going westwards, and in 
certain seasons that is the right course to take ; but 
when you cannot leave this country till the winter sets 
in, it is not proper to go by America, for in doing 
so you plunge into severe weather there, and would be 
crossing the Rocky Mountains when their snow covering 
is on. On the other hand, by taking the eastern 
route, starting at the time we did, you in three days 
step back, as it were, into summer, and may carry 
fine weather with you all the way round. 

On ist December, 1883, we joined the steamer at 
Liverpool, where she had proceeded from the Clyde 
to complete her loading. At noon we left the dock, 
sailed down the Mersey, and out to sea. In the 
afternoon we parted with the pilot off Holyhead, and 
proceeded onwards, passing the Scilly Isles next day, 
and were crossing the Bay of Biscay the two following 
days. Seamen laugh when landsmen speak with serious- 
ness of special dangers in the Bay of Biscay, and 
certainly in my own experience there is nothing ex- 
ceptional to be afraid of more than in any other part of 
the ocean. I have now crossed it three times, and 
always found comparatively smooth water. 

On the early morning of the fourth day out we were 
abreast of Cape Finisterre, on the north-west coast of 



A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



Spain ; from that day onwards all need of overcoats 
ceased — we had come to the genial temperature that 
permitted you to enjoy the fresh sea-breeze upon the 
steamer's deck, from which, as we coasted along past 
Spain and Portugal, we could, with a good glass, keep 
the land almost constantly in view. 

At the end of the fifth day we passed the Straits 
of Gibraltar. All that afternoon we had been seeing a 
great number of both steam and sailing vessels making 
for or coming from the Straits. It is indeed the 
highway of nations — one of the gateways through which 
the Old and the New World travel when visiting each 
other. We passed Gibraltar at not more than two 
miles off the town and fortress. It w r as evening, and 
we could trace the streets and line of fortifications 
by the lights. It is one of our country's most valued 
strongholds, and from a careful inspection I had of it 
five years ago, I came to the conclusion that, so long 
as we desire to retain it, no enemy can ever wrest it 
from us. The Straits are nine miles wide, and quite 
within range of modern ordnance. 

From thence to Malta was three days' sailing, and 
almost the entire distance in sight of the coast of 
Africa. The general impression I know is that Africa 
is a desert plain, but its appearance to us was quite the 
opposite of that. Along the southern shore of the Medi- 
terranean, from the Straits of Gibraltar to Cape Bon, 
which is nearly a thousand miles, all the land you see 
is quite mountainous, and green foliage extends to the 
water's edge. ' On the eighth day we entered the 
harbour of Malta, that interesting dependency of the 
British Crown. The harbour is one of the finest in 



GIBRALTAR — MALTA — " HALF-A-GALE. 



the world, having an even depth of water throughout 
sufficient for the largest ships to the very shore. Valetta, 
the capital of the island is a fine city, containing many 
large and beautiful public buildings; indeed, these seemed 
much out of proportion to its importance as respects 
either population or trade. It is essentially foreign in 
its aspect ; although belonging to Britain, comparatively 
few of our own nation have settled there. French and 
Spanish seemed to be the prevailing nationalities. The 
value of Malta to Britain mainly consists in its capa- 
cious harbour, within which a fleet to command the 
Mediterranean could safely ride under protection of 
its fortifications, which are of enormous strength. We 
had a view of St. Paul's Bay, where tradition says the 
apostle was wrecked on his way to Rome. We spent 
the day visiting other places of interest throughout the 
island. 

Before the sun went down we were again at sea, and 
between Malta and the entrance to the Suez Canal 
experienced the only really rough weather of the voy- 
age. The second night after leaving Malta the wind 
increased to what even a seaman would call "half a gale" — 
the waves were running high, and at short intervals we had 
the foredeck filled with water nearly up to the bul- 
warks ; our cabins were upon the upper deck, and 
hitherto the ports could be kept quite open, but two of 
my party neglected the precaution of shutting theirs on 
this stormy night, and suffered accordingly, for a little 
after midnight a heavy sea struck the vessel on the 
starboard side, completely deluging their cabins, filling 
their berths and thoroughly drenching themselves and 
all their belongings. I was wakened by the loud noise, 



A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



and stepping into the adjoining cabin, I found the water 
surging about the floor at least six inches deep. The 
incident created some sensation amongst the passengers, 
who sympathised sincerely with the unfortunates, and 
cheerfully assisted the stewards in baling the water out. 
The untoward event was chronicled in the following 
verses, written by my daughter, who was one of the 
victims, entitled — 



"THE RAID OF NEPTUNE." 

The silence of night had fallen, 
And all but the sea was still ; 

Weary folks dreaming sweetly, 
Or snoring with right good will. 

But one eye still was waking, 
The eye of Neptune — the old 

Neptune, the god of the ocean, 
Neptune the grim and the bold. 

He rode on the top of the billows, 
And lashed his steed into foam ; 
" As sure as my name is Neptune, 
Till morning I'll not go home. 

" As free as the air of Heaven ! 

Who can fetter the god of the sea 1 
The winds and the waves have striven, 
They never can vanquish me ! " 

One moment he paused in his fury, 
" Aha ! " he laughed in his glee, 
" A port-hole, half-way open, 

There's room enough there for me." 

With a howl and a yell most dreadful, 
With a swish and a splash and a roar, 

He was in at that open port-hole, 
And lay rolling about on the floor. 



"THE RAID OF NEPTUNE." 



His very eyes were sparkling 

With phosphorescent light, 
As he seized my goods and chattels, 

And tossed them with all his might. 

Still onward he rode in fury, 

And soon I felt upon me 
The touch of his cold, icy fingers, 

I roared — but not in my glee. 

Then out of my cabin he rushed, 

And down the saloon with a roar ; 
Up started the sleepers in fright, 

They thought the ship was ashore. 

He only smiled more grimly, 

And grinned at the havoc he made ; 
" You may catch me now if you can, 
I am off on a midnight raid." 

But great is the power of man, 

And the stewards were men every one ; 

With buckets and pails they appear on the scene, 
And brave old Neptune is done. 

Weird was that midnight scene 

In the cabin's dim flickering light, 
As shivering forms were flitting — 

Best hid by the merciful night. 

Some forms were dark in the twilight, 

In robes of dusky hue, 
While some were white like linen, 

And, shuddering, looked so blue. 

Then one by one these forms, 

The dusky and the white, 
Crept back to their cabin's damp shelter, 

And again there was stillness and night. 

By the following morning the sea had gone greatly 
down, and continued moderate to the termination of our 



A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



Mediterranean voyage. We entered the Suez Canal at 
Port Said, on the thirteenth day after leaving Liverpool. 
On the following day we took our place in a procession 
of steamers through that gigantic work of inland navi- 
gation. Its width for many miles appeared to be about 
the same as the Clyde above the bridges, as it passes 
Glasgow Green; but the banks were much higher, 
indeed, it was only from the upper deck, and sometimes 
only by ascending the rigging, that you could see to 
the country beyond. I had the opportunity of wit- 
nessing the mirage as we sailed along. I was on 
the bridge beside the captain, and remarked to him 
that it was quite contrary to my expectation to see 
the country so well watered. "Water?" he said, "that's 
all desert you are looking on. There's not a drop of 
water there." I could hardly believe it ; but, as we 
proceeded and the scene constantly changed, I became 
convinced that it was wholly an optical illusion. What 
appeared to be beautiful lakes, with fertile islands, 
vanished like a dream as our position changed. Some 
distance from Port Said we came to a ferry crossing 
the canal. It was the highway from Cairo to Jerusalem. 
A caravan, consisting of a score or more of camels, with 
merchandise, was waiting at the ferry till the steamers 
passed. The gay costume of the drivers brightened up 
the bleak landscape, and gave a most picturesque appear- 
ance to a spot otherwise unattractive. 

Now and again, as we sailed along, a solitary traveller 
might be observed on the sandy waste on camel's back; 
but, so far as I can recollect, we saw no village on the 
route, but only at the stations where vessels draw into 
the side to allow others to pass were there a few houses 



THE SUEZ CANAL. 



to accommodate those working the canal. The first 
night we anchored in the small lake in front of Ismalia, 
where we all landed, and on donkeys rode up through 
the town. The next day we proceeded onwards in the 
same order of procession — it being a fixed regulation 
that no vessel shall pass another which is before it 
excepting while sailing through the Bitter Lake, which 
is about eight miles in extent. 

We were in hopes of reaching Suez the second night, 
but a detention at the Bitter Lake kept us back, and so 
we had to anchor in the Canal seven miles from its 
termination, and, as it happened, exactly opposite one 
of the battlefields of a few months before. It was 
bright moonlight; nearly all our passengers landed and 
walked over the scene of conflict, bringing back trophies 
to the ship. By ten o'clock the following day we were 
through, and cast anchor in front of the little town 
of Suez. 

It is an old saying, " that there is nothing new under 
the sun," and probably in no part of the world are we 
more likely to find old things in view than in the land 
of Egypt. 

This present Suez Canal, which forms the connecting 
link betwixt the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, will 
take rank in history as one of the great engineering 
works of the nineteenth century; and yet it has to be 
admitted that it is only the resuscitation of an old canal 
which was made by the Egyptian Kings many hundreds 
of years ago, and it is even doubtful if the Ptolemy who 
gets credit for the conception of it was really the first con- 
structor, for there are two separate periods, many years 
distant in time from each other, that a canal is known 



10 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

to have existed betwixt the Mediterranean and the Red 
Sea — the presumption being that the shifting sands of the 
desert had in the interval filled the first up, as it also 
did the second. Of course neither of these canals were 
suitable for the passage of such large vessels as now use 
the navigation. Towards the end of last century the 
first Napoleon Bonaparte proposed the remaking of the 
old canal. And quite likely it would have been com- 
menced in his time but for a mistake made by his 
surveying engineer, who reported that the Red Sea 
level was 33 feet higher than the waters of the Mediter- 
ranean. British engineers, however, subsequently dis- 
covered that the difference in level is only six inches; but 
they thought it quite impracticable, believing that the drift- 
ing sand of the desert was sure to fill it up, as it had 
done before; and, indeed, that is found to be very nearly 
the case — dredging operations on an extensive scale are 
required continually, and is a never-ending cause of 
anxiety and expense. There happened to be very little 
wind blowing when we passed through, but I was 
informed that vessels were sometimes so deluged with 
sand that it has to be shovelled off their decks in ton 
loads. The length of the canal is about 99 miles, and 
the constructed breadth just about what I have already 
mentioned, but nearly one-third of its course is much 
wider, that is where it passes through natural lakes or 
water holes. The depth for navigation is understood 
to be not less than 26 feet, even at the shallowest 
part. 

The sail in the Canal was novel and interesting, 
enlivened, as it had been, by the passage of a large 
number of steamers. In the two days we were in it we 



RED SEA — BAB-EL-MANDEB — PERIM. 11 

met upwards of twenty, not one of them under 3,000 
tons burthen, and I am proud to say that, with the 
exception of one French War Frigate and one Russian 
Man-of-War, all the vessels we saw were flying the 
British flag. 

On leaving the Canal you enter the Gulf of Suez, 
an arm of the Red Sea, which is quite narrow at first, 
but widens out as you proceed, until it is so broad 
that you are frequently out of sight of land altogether. 
What land we did see was mountainous. Mount Sinai 
was pointed out to us, distant about seventy miles. The 
atmosphere was so clear, however, as to make it appear 
not half that distance away. 

At some seasons it is a great trial to pass down the 
Red Sea because of the heat. We were favoured with 
a good breeze, and it being winter the temperature was 
delightful, never more than seventy-nine degrees in the 
shade; the water was warmer than the air, for it was 
not under eighty-two degrees, consequently it was very 
pleasant to bathe in. The baths in the steamer were 
much in use during the voyage. 

We pass out of the Red Sea through the Straits of 
Bab-el-Mandeb, known as " The Gate of Tears," so 
named from the numerous wrecks that in former times 
occurred upon this desolate coast. There is now a 
British lighthouse there on the Island of Perim. How 
that solitary Island came into our possession I have 
heard related thus: — When the Suez Canal, which you 
may remember was at first entirely a French under- 
taking, approached completion, the French Government 
foresaw that this route to India was to assume an 
importance which had not previously attached to it, and 



12 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



that a fortress on the Island of Perim at the Straits 
would command the Red Sea as effectually as Gibraltar 
does the Mediterranean, and so they sent two war ships 
out to take possession of the Island for France. They 
had to go by the Cape, as the Canal was not yet open. 
These vessels called at Aden, a British coaling station 
on the Arabian coast, on their way to the Straits. 
The Governor politely invited the French officers to dine 
with him. Over their wine it came out w T hat the object 
of their visit to Perim was. The Governor, without 
rising from the table, pencilled a note to the commander 
of a British gunboat then lying in the harbour to get 
up steam at once and proceed to the Island of Perim 
and take possession of it for Her Majesty. The order 
was at once obeyed, and when the tw r o French war ships 
got to Perim they found it in the hands of the British, 
whose flag was now waving over it. I cannot tell 
whether the Governor was raised to the peerage for his 
prompt and timely action, but I am sure you will agree 
with me that some who have sat in the House of Lords 
had that honour conferred on them for less meri- 
torious services. 

After passing out of the Red Sea, for three days we 
were in sight of the east coast of Africa, and on the 
other side got glimpses of Arabia. The next land 
we saw was the Island of Socotra at a great distance. 
It lies 140 miles off Cape Guardifui — the furthest east 
point of Africa, — and is inhabited by a wild Beduin 
race, who make slaves of any unfortunate shipwrecked 
mariners who may chance to fall into their hands; and 
we were informed that the Governor of Aden had 
authority to give a ransom of five pounds a head for 



ADEN — SOCOTRA — CEYLON — GANGES. 13 

any British subjects they might bring to him, which sum 
they would lose if he required to send to the island 
for them. Six days thereafter we came in sight 
of the lovely Island of Ceylon, on the south of 
India. We coasted along an entire day, and had 
the pleasure of looking upon its luxurious vegetation, 
which reached down to the golden strand. We could 
see the tall cocoa-nut palm trees with their graceful 
leaves springing from the top ; and mountains, as 
far as the eye could reach, covered with trees or 
rich verdure. We knew that we had to return to 
Ceylon to join the Australian Mail Steamer, and this 
passing glimpse created a strong desire to see more 
of this lovely land. Four days sailing brought us to 
the mouths of the Ganges. On nearing the Hooghly, 
and long before you enter it, you are sensible that you 
are approaching a great river by the changed colour 
of the water. Hitherto we had been ploughing our 
way through the bright blue ocean; now the waves, 
although still the mighty waves of the sea, are 
without doubt the discoloured waters of the Ganges. 
The banks of the river are very flat; in fact, you have 
proceeded some miles up before being sensible that 
the black streak which you see on either side a mile 
or more distant is really land, and it is only after 
you have sailed for some hours in the smooth but 
turbid waters, and are meeting many native boats with 
swarthy boatmen, that you feel sure you are now 
within the realm of Queen Victoria, the Empress of 
India. 

It takes a whole day's steaming from the entrance of 
the river till you reach Calcutta; but as you proceed 



14 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

the stir upon the river increases; the scenery improves, 
giving place to cultivated fields, with here and there 
a native village ; as you get nearer to the great 
city, there are to be seen the handsome residences of 
Calcutta merchants, and the splendid palace of at least 
one native Prince. It was evening before we cast 
anchor at Garden Reach, immediately below the 
crowded harbour, which no vessel is allowed to enter 
after sundown. The following morning we landed at 
Calcutta. The city, as seen from the steamer's deck, 
is very imposing. In front of you stands Government 
House, with its handsome gateway facing the river ; 
to the right a range of large palatial buildings, with 
pillars in front, the residences of the European gentry. 
At the extreme end, and a little removed from them, is 
the new Cathedral; and but a short distance off the 
extensive Law Courts. Again, separated from these 
buildings by a wide plain, stands Fort- William, one of 
the largest fortresses in India, but presenting nothing 
very striking in general appearance. Our steamer was 
still at anchor in the river, as the berth she was to 
occupy was not yet vacant, and so we had to land in 
a small boat, which brought us to the jetty, beside 
which large numbers of natives of both sexes were 
disporting themselves in the water, crowds of them 
going out and in continually. It was a lively scene, 
and such as we had never previously witnessed. The 
Great Exhibition was now opened, and hotels and 
boarding-houses were all full; but we had secured rooms 
in the Great Eastern Hotel, preferring to go there 
rather than accept the kind hospitality pressed upon us 
by those to whom we were only known through letters 



CALCUTTA — EXHIBITION— MARRIAGE PROCESSION. 15 

of introduction. We had to engage an Indian servant — 
those attached to the hotel are not expected to give 
visitors much attention — and, as there are no bells con- 
nected with the rooms, it would have been necessary to 
go to the clerk in the office for any requirement, except at 
public meals. But even at these, nearly every one has his 
private servant to attend to him, and where there is a party 
of four, one special attendant, at least, is indispensable. 
We had the assistance of a friend who was staying in 
the hotel in making a choice, and we were extremely 
fortunate, for the man we got was very capable, spoke 
our language fairly well, was most attentive, and studied 
our interests and comfort in every way. The only fault 
I had to find with Jeulim was that he persisted in doing 
for you all manner of things that a European, before 
he goes to India, is accustomed to do for himself; but 
Europeans very soon fall into lazy habits and let their 
servants perform every part of their toilet for them. As 
an interpreter between us and the natives he was in- 
valuable; in protecting us from the persistent attentions 
of itinerant merchants on the streets and exorbitant 
charges in the shops he saved us his wages a hundred 
fold. In fact, we could not have done without him, and 
when giving him a testimonial at the termination of his 
month's service, I promised to write beforehand when we 
returned to India, and he engaged to travel across to 
Bombay and meet us there. 

Our first outing was to the Exhibition. The 
Indian and foreign sections were very interesting 
to us ; more curious than instructive, for the Eastern 
nations are far behind in all useful arts and manufactures. 
Carving ivory and metal, weaving cloth of gold and 



16 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

embroidery, and such handicrafts they excel in. Labour- 
saving machinery they know nothing of. We saw the 
most primitive implements shown at the Exhibition as 
the best of their kind. Where labourers can be had 
for sixpence a day there is not the same inducement 
as with us to lessen the number employed by the appli- 
cation of machinery. We saw at the Exhibition many 
of the native Princes and inhabitants of distant parts 
of India, the latter brought there at the expense of the 
Government as a matter of education. On one occasion 
when out walking I met a marriage procession on the 
street. Marriages in India are celebrated at a very 
early age, and always with extravagant expense. We 
were told that in numerous instances the poorer Hindoos 
ruin themselves by the outlay which thus following an 
absurd custom entails. Our attention was attracted by 
distant music, and as it approached we could observe, 
following the pipers and drummers, a gaudy cavalcade 
of horses with gay trappings, four of them harnessed to 
a kind of raised platform, on which was seated, on a 
mimic throne, in tinsel dress, the young bridegroom, 
a child of 14 or so. He was being conveyed to his 
young bride, and, along with his near relatives, who 
surrounded the chariot on which he sat, greeted the 
passers by serenely. The procession was a long one, 
and entirely blocked the streets it passed along. 

Several times we returned to the Exhibition, more with 
a view to study the native character than to examine 
their productions. From what I did see of the latter, how- 
ever, I have no doubt of there being a great future for 
India in providing wheat and wine for Western Europe. 
The Indian wheat which I had seen in this country was 



SANITARY EXCURSION — NIMTOLLAH GHAUT. 17 

always inferior to other importations ; but I was sure, 
from the bread that was laid on the hotel table, that 
the best sorts had not been sent home. The splendid 
variety shown at the Exhibition clearly demonstrated 
that. Through the kind attention of Dr. Watt, who 
had charge of the products section, I had every oppor- 
tunity of examining it, and also of tasting the Indian 
wine, which, in my judgment, was excellent. 

Of course we saw the places of interest which tourists 
usually visit in and around the city ; but all these have 
been described so frequently that I think it unnecessary 
to occupy time in repeating what to many must be 
quite familiar. Calcutta I have heard called the " City 
of Palaces ;" to call it the " City of Hovels " would be 
as truly descriptive. No doubt there are many fine 
buildings, quite palatial in their character, but the great 
mass of its teeming population are very poorly housed. 
We have nothing so wretched in this country in any of 
our towns; but then, the conditions are entirely different. 
Here, we need protection from the inclemency of the 
weather ; there they only need a covering in the rainy 
season and from the rays of the sun ; indeed, the scanty 
clothing which the natives wear — only a bit of calico 
round their middle — even in winter, shows the great 
difference from what our poor have to endure. The 
general cleansing of the city is not well performed. But 
since we were there a Public Health Society has been 
inaugurated under the Presidency of His Honour the 
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and no doubt many 
improvements will result. Much of the heavy traffic of 
the streets is carried on bullock waggons, and the 
droppings from the cattle when dried makes cheap fuel 



18 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

for the natives. During day time no household fires are 
required, but when the morning and evening meals are 
preparing the smell of the smoke is sometimes overpower- 
ing. I never saw a scavenger at work all the time we 
were there, but during the stillness of the night we 
heard the yelping and howling of jackals as they prowled 
about, picking up garbage everywhere. One day, when 
out driving in an open carriage, I told our Indian servant 
that I wanted to go to the Salt Lakes, where the refuse 
from ashpits, &c, was deposited, and the sewage of the 
city drained to. The driver had never been there, and 
no stranger he said ever went to the place. As a sani- 
tary reformer, however, it was in my line, and I wished 
to see it. After much inquiry, we found the direction ; 
but, on nearing the outfall, we were driven back by the 
intolerable stench, the myriads of large flies, and the 
crowds of vultures hovering close over us. 

Another place I visited which is not very attractive to 
sensitive natures — the Nimtollah Ghaut, where the dead 
are burned. I am not going to discuss the question here, 
although, as a sanitary reformer, I must admit that, on 
the side of the public health, cremation has the best of 
it; and certainly, as opposed to the practice which at 
one time prevailed, of throwing the dead into the river, 
the method now adopted is far preferable. The Burning 
Ghauts are on the river-banks within the city, but not 
near any other building. A high wall, entirely open 
above, surrounds a space of about 60 yards by 20. 
Within this enclosure several hollows like shallow graves 
are formed ; across these ■ openings billets of wood are 
placed, and the body is laid thereon; more wood is put 
over it, and the pile is set fire to — in two or three 



DARJEELING — HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 19 

hours the work is done. It was four in the afternoon 
when I was there ; two bodies were being consumed, 
both had died that forenoon. On the previous day the 
remains of the great Brahma leader, Baboo Keshub 
Chunder Sen, had been cremated there. The Indian in 
charge of the Ghaut, on being questioned through my 
interpreter respecting the ceremony, pointed to the small 
quantity of ashes left, saying, fifteen bundles of sandal- 
wood had been burned. He had never known more than 
twelve before. We could get nothing more out of him 
than that. In this man's estimation, Chunder Sen, the 
founder of a new faith not far from Christianity, was of 
more importance than his countrymen only to the extent 
of three bundles of sweet-scented sandal-wood. i/ 

It was the middle of winter, and the weather was 
most enjoyable when we first arrived; but it got gradually 
hotter, and one of my party feeling it more than the 
rest of us, we went inland about 360 miles to Dar- 
jeeling, amongst the wonderful mountain scenery of the 
Himalayas, and there, when the sun went down, we had 
it cold enough — indeed, so much so that it was necessary 
to keep fires on in our bedrooms throughout the entire 
night. The reason of the lower temperature there was its 
altitude above sea level, 7,500 feet, nearly twice the height 
of the highest mountain in Scotland ; but even 
the great height of Darjeeling was as nothing com- 
pared to the snow-clad range that was in front of us. 
I shall never forget its appearance, and the conversation 
I had with our hotel-keeper the day we arrived. He 
said to me that, unless I meant to stay some time, I 
might not at that season get so favourable a day for 
having the different mountains pointed out, and so we 



20 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



went with him to the verandah. He asked me if I 
could guess the distance which the highest mountains we 
were looking at were from us. I said I was familiar 
with high hills in front of my residence at home, four 
miles of water and two miles behind Greenock — six in 
all. The mountains before us we could see more dis- 
tinctly than I had ever seen the hills beyond Greenock; 
but then I had never looked at them in so pure an 
atmosphere, and I thought I was making a fair allow- 
ance when I named twelve miles. "Ah!" he said, "you 
are far under it, for even the nearest range you see" 
(which I had not before observed, as my attention was 
taken up with the highest) "is fully twelve miles distant, 
and the valley between us and it descends 5,000 feet from 
where we stand; and those great peaks which appear so 
near, and the fissures and chasms of which you see so 
distinctly, are forty miles away, — their height is twenty- 
eight and twenty-nine thousand feet." ^J 'Never in this 
world have I seen so sublime a spectacle. We had 
looked on magnificent palaces and gorgeous temples, 
but this was a temple not made with hands, before which 
we were awe-struck, its stupendous heights reaching not 
into the clouds, for there were none, but into the azure 
blue with which the bright, clear, everlasting snow that 
covered them formed a splendid contrast. Himalaya, in 
Sanscrit, signifies "the abode of snow." We saw the 
snowy range on subsequent days in varying conditions, 
but never so beautiful as on the day of our arrival. 

The journey to Darjeeling is a whole day's travelling. 
We left Calcutta by rail at three in the afternoon, and 
got to the station where we crossed the Ganges at eight; 
dined on board the steamer while she was sailing up the 



DARJEELING — NATIVES. 21 

stream to another railway, where we got into sleeping- 
carriages ; and, travelling all night, reached Silligouri,, 
at the foot of the mountains, just as the sun was rising, 
and, after breakfasting, started on the narrow gauge 
railway, only two feet wide, by which we arrived at 
Darjeeling about four in the afternoon. The gradient on 
the North British Railway from Queen Street Station to 
Cowlairs is I in 45, and the locomotive requires the aid 
of a cable wrought by two powerful engines in pulling 
the train up the incline. This mountain railway has 
an average gradient of 1 in 22 on thirty miles of its 
course, and would never have been made had not the 
Indian Government allowed the company who formed it 
to use the public highway wherever they could in 
climbing the mountains. In travelling up you can 
often look out of the carriages over precipices that you 
pass the edge of and look down more than 1,000 feet 
straight below. Darjeeling is situate on a projecting 
spur of Mount Senchul — the ground rapidly falling, on 
every side but one, to a depth of 5,000 feet in the 
valley below 7 — which can only be reached by narrow 
bridal paths terraced on the mountain side. It is a 
small town of not more than a thousand inhabitants, 
but there is a Government Cantonment for 250 invalid 
soldiers, and a Sanitarium for 100 civilians. 

Tea cultivation is the only industry, and the quality 
raised here bears a high character. Along with my 
daughter I rode down to a tea plantation on the 
mountain side, three thousand feet below, to visit a 
tea planter, to whom we had an introduction from 
a friend at Calcutta. We found him at his bungalo, 
and had the finest cup of tea I think I ever drank. 



22 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

The natives here are a different race entirely from the 
slender Hindoo of the plains. The cast of countenance 
is quite changed. Amongst the Hindoos, many are 
really beautiful ; but now we are amongst a people 
whose features are of a distinctly Mongolian type — 
broad, flat faces, eyes oblique, and high cheek bones ; 
a sturdy race, looking capable of holding their own 
with any one. Even the women have a masculine 
look, and we were informed bear burdens that only 
strong men would be expected to carry elsewhere. 
An example of that was related to us as having 
occurred in the case of a lady who had a piano sent 
to her from Calcutta. She left her house on the 
hill-side to proceed to the railway station, a mile or 
more distant, to make arrangements for having it 
conveyed home, but, to her astonishment, she met 
the woman who did the rough work of the house 
struggling to get in at the narrow entrance gate with 
the instrument upon her back. The women are very 
industrious too. I don't recollect of ever seeing any 
idle, for if they were not working or carrying a 
burden of some kind they were sure to be whirling 
an ingenious spinning machine that was in every 
female's hand. From the verandah of our hotel we 
looked down on the market place of Darjeeling, four 
or five hundred feet below, and from thence, on 
Sunday, which was the principal market day, a sound 
arose from the mingling voices as of fifty dog kennels 
broken loose and mixed with the roar of breakers on 
the beach. On the same plateau as the market place 
stood the Buddhist Temple, a tawdry wooden building, 
decorated with gilding and gaudy colours, surrounded 



BUDDHIST TEMPLE — HOSPITALITIES — CAST PREJUDICES. 23 

by a wall ten or twelve feet high, having a wide gate 
at the one end and a narrow door at the other. I 
sought entrance one day at the large gate, and whilst 
I stood a native policeman, who could speak some 
English, told me I could only get in at the little one. 
This was kept for Buddha's days. I went there and 
was admitted by the priests, who could not speak to 
me, but let me plainly understand that a rupee would 
buy me many prayers, and so, for that coin, the 
praying wheel that was within the temple was set 
a-going. It was a cylinder, like a drum, standing on 
an axle on end, and turned with a handle ; round it, 
on paper slips, are written innumerable prayers, and 
the idea is, that each time the cylinder turns all these 
prayers are offered to the Deity within the temple. 
What a degradation of the human intellect is here — 
the turning of a wheel propitiating a Deity ! 

The rainy season was now imminent, and so we only 
stayed about a week at Darjeeling, and when we returned 
to Calcutta the heat was greater than before, so we had 
to give up our intention of crossing India to Bombay. 
The journey occupies six days of continuous travel, and 
the heat and dust would have made it fatiguing and 
uncomfortable. 

Kind friends in Glasgow had given me letters to 
friends and correspondents in Calcutta ; some of these 
I presented, but the result of making myself known 
was endless offers of hospitalities all the time we were 
there. The Anglo-Indian does his entertaining on a 
grand scale, and generally he has all the conveniences 
for doing so ready to his hand. His house is large, the 
apartments numerous, lofty, and capacious ; he keeps a 



24 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

retinue of servants that only a grandee or nobleman here 
would have. One Calcutta merchant with whom we dined 
informed me that he had thirty male and two female 
servants. The two females attended to his wife and 
daughter — the men servants did all the work. One 
cannot at first realise the necessity for this great army 
of domestics. It all arises from caste prejudices. Each 
individual servant confines himself within a very narrow 
sphere ; he will only do one particular kind of work, and 
you must have others to do that which he will not. 
The man who dusts the furniture will not sweep the 
floor, the man who sweeps the floor will not black your 
shoes, the man who tidies your bed-room will not 
remove the slops ; if you keep a carriage the coachman 
attends to it, but each horse must have its own atten- 
dant, called a Cice. You are thus in a manner 
compelled to keep up a large body of servants. 
Our friend kept six horses and two carriages ; that 
involved the services of twelve men about the stable — 
six to take charge of the horses, other two as coach- 
men, two as grass-cutters, and two as water-carriers. 
So far as I could observe, the employment of females in 
domestic service was very limited, and generally in the 
capacity of nursery maids, called Ayahs. I did, however, 
see many of the lowest class of females working in the 
jute mills. That department of work, for instance, which 
is almost always performed by women with us — namely, 
washing and dressing — is entirely in the hands of the 
opposite sex in India ; the Dhobie does all that, and 
the finer descriptions of that work, such as washing and 
dressing lace, is done by the Pinwallah. But indeed 
throughout the colonies and in America much of the 



CALCUTTA — LORD RIPON — ILBERT BILL. 25 

work of the laundry is now performed by men, in 
the latter country almost always by Chinese. 

Amongst those who received us with great kindness 
was the Viceroy, Lord Ripon, to whom I had creden- 
tials from Lord Hartington. During our short stay we 
had three invitations to Government House — to dine, 
to an assembly, and to a levee. I had also the honour 
of an interview with his Excellency. 

To one who had fled from home to escape from the 

numerous engagements of city life, this life in Calcutta 

was no change at all, and so I determined to be 

sparing with my introductory letters in future, although 

perhaps, in doing so, I have disappointed friends here, 

and may have offended some abroad. Four weeks after 

our arrival we took our departure from Calcutta. I 

could not help having a strange feeling of sadness as 

I left it. The Ilbert Bill was the subject uppermost 

in the minds of our countrymen there. Many of them 

had dismal forebodings of its effect if passed into law. 

They pointed to the handful of Europeans amongst the 

millions of India. They firmly believed that if ever 

those teeming masses came to think themselves capable 

of self-government, which principle that bill was mainly 

founded on, then the days of our rule in India were 

numbered. I offer no opinion — indeed I have none 

to offer — so limited an experience as mine would 

not warrant me. I have seen those teeming masses — 

wherever we went the population was immense — you 

seemed never to lose sight of human beings even far 

away from towns. Those inhabiting the plains appeared 

to be a gentle, peaceful people, intent on serving you. 

The inhabitants of the mountainous region were more 

D 



26 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

self-reliant and determined — from them generally our 
troubles have come. It is fortunate for us that there 
is no cohesion amongst the different castes in India, 
and that they are more prone to be at enmity with 
each other than with us ; but probably it is more 
fortunate still that we can point to our rule over them, 
in recent years at least, as having been entirely for 
their good. 

We had taken passages in the Peninsular and Oriental 
Steamer for Colombo, and embarked at daybreak on 
board the s.s. "Teheran." The sail down the Hoogly 
is most interesting, not less on account of the native 
villages on its banks, and here and there the handsome 
residences of Calcutta merchant princes, as from the 
innumerable native craft of every size and description 
that you meet on the river, from the tiny canoe paddled 
by a single native to the clumsy barge with sweeping 
oars worked by a score or more of nearly naked 
boatmen, bringing produce from the interior to the 
great emporium, Calcutta. By the afternoon we had 
parted with the pilot, and were once more at sea. The 
voyage of three days across the Bay of Bengal to 
Madras was uneventful ; the sea was as smooth as we 
ever have it on the Firth of Clyde, and nothing 
occurred to break the monotony of the voyage but an 
evening concert, and the usual deck games that pas- 
sengers indulge in who do not care to read or write. 

At Madras we had the opportunity of going on shore 
in the native surf-boats, propelled by eight rowers. An 
ordinary ship's boat is no use for landing there ; it 
would be knocked to pieces on the shore by the great 
waves that continually roll in. 



DOWN THE HOOGLY — CATAMARANS — NATIVE JUGGLERS. 27 

The surf-boat is as elastic as a wicker basket. No 
nails are used to fasten the planks — they are sewed 
together, and kept tight with pitch and cocoa-nut fibre. 
Immediately on touching the beach the men leap out 
and pull the boat in. You are then lifted out and 
carried to the shore. The natives have another kind of 
boat, or rather raft, which we only saw there and at 
Colombo. It is called a catamaran, and consists of 
three pieces of wood, about 10 feet long, tied together. 
The Indian squats on that, and the sea is constantly 
breaking over it. He propels himself with a piece of 
flat wood, and, we were told, ventured out in very 
stormy weather. One man came alongside the steamer 
in one of these rude contrivances, freighted with two 
large baskets of eggs. 

Many of the natives came on board to sell small 
merchandise of various kinds, trinkets and curious puzzles. 
There were also the famous jugglers, of whom we had 
heard wonderful accounts. We saw the basket trick 
performed upon the quarter-deck. A middle-sized 
swarthy woman had her arms and ankles tied. She sat 
down upon a small flat basket, with a narrow opening 
into which it appeared impossible for her to get. The 
juggler held a black cloth covering her for a very few 
minutes, all the while whistling with a small pipe as if 
making an incantation. On removing the cloth the 
woman had disappeared, and the man, to show that she 
was not in the basket, pierced it at various places with 
a sword. Afterwards covering the basket, and on again 
removing the cloth she was found sitting over it and 
bound as before. Another trick that created much 
interest was putting a few handfuls of sand on the 



28 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

deck, planting a seed in it, covering it with a cloth, 
piping over it as in the basket trick, and in a little while 
lifting the cloth and finding a shrub six or eight inches 
high growing out of the sand. Other performances with 
live snakes were quite as startling, but by no means so 
pleasing to behold. 

Madras may be said to consist of two towns quite 
distinct from one another. The White, inhabited by 
Europeans, the Black, by the native population. Looking 
from the steamer's deck there were in view many large 
and handsome buildings; but the principal business 
street, in which was the Post Office, was very narrow, 
and the houses small. We observed, as we passed 
through it, that on many of the door-posts and lintels 
were curious carvings of the real eastern pattern. The 
city generally, however, struck me as having an ap- 
pearance of gloom about it, which suggested the idea 
that it had seen better days. I have since learned that 
an epidemic of smallpox was prevailing; and when I 
turn up the Registrar-General's reports I find that in 
the first three months of last year (and we were there 
in the middle of that time) upwards of 1,500 deaths had 
occurred in Madras from smallpox, and that the total 
mortality from all causes for the quarter had been at 
the rate of 70 per 1,000 per annum. You will have 
some idea of the calamity which such a death-rate 
involves, when I tell you that if the same death-rate had 
prevailed in Glasgow during the quarter, there would 
have been 5,698 more deaths in our city in the first 
three months of 1884 than actually occurred. 

From Madras we next sailed to Colombo, which 
we reached just one week after leaving Calcutta. 



MADRAS— COLOMBO — ARABI PASHA. 29 

Colombo has one of the finest breakwaters that I have 
ever seen, constructed from designs by Mr. Kyle, of our 
own city, who superintended its erection. The method 
of construction is quite novel. The material used is 
great blocks made of stones and cement, about twenty 
feet by eight, weighing twelve to fifteen tons each, and 
laid not flat on each other, but angled so that each 
block gets a rest on more than one below it. The 
breakwater at Madras was constructed in the usual 
manner, at the same time as the one at Colombo, but 
a great storm which swept over both two years ago 
made great breaches at Madras but did no damage to 
the one at Colombo. You may recollect that Arabi 
Pasha has taken up his residence there. * I repeatedly 
passed the villa he resides in, and was always asked 
by the driver if I was not going to call — who at the same 
time informed me that many of my countrymen did who 
came to Colombo with the steamers passing to or from 
the East and the Colonies. I could not, however, regard 
the man as a hero in any sense, neither could I forget 
the blood and treasure he had cost my country and his 
own. Although I might have a little curiosity, common 
decency would have demanded a show of respect which 
I really did not feel, and so I thought I had better stay 
away. My daughter saw him at an assembly which 
took place during our short stay, and she informed me 
that the great Arabi and his suite partook of the even- 
ing's refreshment by themselves apart, using neither 
spoons nor forks, but in true Eastern fashion helping 
themselves to the dainties with their fingers. There 
was, however, one eminent personage at Colombo while 
we were there that I would have had great pleasure in 



30 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

making my obeisance to. He came by the mail steamer 
from Australia, and during her short stay went up to the 
mountainous district of Ceylon by railway, returning just 
in time to proceed homewards. It was only after the 
steamer had sailed I learned that amongst her passengers, 
returning from the Colonies, was the Right Hon. the 
Earl of Rosebery. Colombo is now becoming a great 
coaling station for steamers going to India, China, and 
Japan, also for the P. and O. steamers that go to 
Australia. I saw five large steamers in at one time 
for that purpose. 

The heat was greater at Colombo than it had been 
at Calcutta, but there was always a fresh breeze blowing 
from the sea during the day, which made it more endur- 
able; at night the wind blew from the land to the sea 
with unfailing regularity. No one living in this variable 
climate of ours could believe it possible to foretell with 
such certainty what to-morrow is to bring forth in wind 
and weather as you can in these Eastern countries. 
During the time we were at Colombo we saw the 
same conditions from day to day, and were told that 
for weeks together it was the same, changes coming 
with perfect regularity. 

You may recollect the reference to Ceylon in that 
well-known hymn of Bishop Heber's commencing, "From 
Greenland's icy mountains." The words I refer to are — 

"What tho' the spicy breezes 
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle, 
Where every prospect pleases, 
And only man is vile." 

It may be interesting to you to know in how much that 
verse describes Ceylon as we found it, and I am glad 



ceylon's " spicy breezes " — kandy. 31 

to say that, except on one point, I can vouch for its 
truthfulness. As regards its "spicy breezes," Captain 
Anderson, Commander of the City of Cambridge, the 
steamer we went out in, told me that when he happens 
to be passing the island after nightfall, he could always 
feel the delicious odour of its aromatic plants upon 
the breeze which was then blowing from the land. And 
I can myself attest that I have felt the sweet fragrance 
in the air as I drove along the highway amongst the 
cinnamon gardens. The next line, which says that 
"every prospect pleases," I can also say is true. And 
now the only point at issue between me and the worthy 
Bishop is as to the vileness of the inhabitants. I am 
much inclined to think, however, that Bishop Heber did 
not in this make special reference to the Cingalese at 
all, but to mankind in general; for, I am bound to say, 
that beyond a strong desire to get as many rupees as 
possible for the nick-nacks they sold you, I could dis- 
cover no special characteristics in the inhabitants of 
Ceylon to warrant the application of the epithet vile. 

Part of the time we were in Ceylon we spent at 
Kandy, a beautiful inland town amongst the mountains, 
and about 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. Its 
situation and surroundings are charming. The air is 
dry and bracing; in fact, it is the sanitorium of Ceylon, 
and is resorted to by invalids. The railway journey of 
about 80 miles passes through much interesting scenery, 
and at one point the road is cut in the face of the solid 
rock at a great height above the valley below. Coffee 
and spices used to be the principal products of Ceylon. 
Of late years the coffee plant has partially failed, and now 
the plantations have added rice, cinchona, and cocoa, and 



32 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

I believe tea also is now grown. There is a tradition in 
India that Ceylon is the birthplace of the human race; 
but their account of the untoward circumstance that 
caused man's fall is somewhat different from ours. The 
Bible version relates how Adam partook of the forbidden 
fruit from the hand of Eve, and then cast the blame 
upon her. But the Indian tradition has it that Adam was 
more gallant — that he was so enamoured of his young 
wife that he preferred to follow her out into the world, 
never to return, rather than remain without her, although 
surrounded by the manifold attractions of the Garden of 
Eden. 

There is nothing in the Bible account that forbids 
us localising Paradise in Ceylon; and certainly of all 
the lovely spots I have looked on there is probably 
none which has a climate so agreeably suitable for the 
human race, if their clothing was still to be as Adam's 
was — an apron of fig leaves. The wondrous beauty 
of the sunsets we saw there are ever to be remembered. 
The luxuriant foliage of that tropical clime is beyond 
description, such brilliancy of colouring everywhere is 
nowhere else to be seen. Surely it is of it the poet 
speaks when he says — 

" He told of the Magnolia, spread 
High as a cloud, high overhead 
The Cypress and her spire 
Of flowers, that with one scarlet gleam, 
Cover a hundred leagues, and seem 
To set the hills on fire.'"' 

We had been a fortnight in Ceylon, and were now 
done with India. Old things were to pass away: from 
this time onwards we were to be amongst the things 



A WATERSPOUT — FLOATING LAVA. 33 

which are entirely new. From Colombo we proceeded 
onwards to the Australasian Colonies by the steamer 
Mirzapore, belonging to the P. and O. Company. She 
had a full complement of passengers — upwards of 200 
in the cabin. 

Again we were favoured with good weather, and a 
comparatively smooth sea all the way. The only thing 
notable that occurred during the voyage was a water- 
spout we saw the third day after leaving Colombo. 
It appeared to be about two or three miles off, and 
looked like an enormous mushroom, a stem of ten or 
twelve hundred feet in height, and then spreading out at 
top in vapour, whilst all around us in every direction 
the sky had an unsettled look, and heavy rain fell at 
short intervals. The previous day we had crossed the 
equator, and broken weather, which is usual there, con- 
tinued for some time thereafter. But the passengers 
were not confined to the cabin, for in all these steamers 
sailing within the tropics there is an awning over the 
deck extending from stem to stern to protect you from 
the sun's says, and of course it is equally serviceable in 
keeping the rain off; we therefore had perfect freedom 
to be on deck constantly — indeed, there was a piano fixed 
on the quarter deck, and we had excellent musicians on 
board, so that all through the voyage there was a con- 
tinuous concert. I should not omit to mention that 
during four days, commencing on the third day out, we 
sailed through a stretch of ocean not less than 1200 
miles in extent, over which was a floating frothy-like 
material of a brownish colour, some of it in lumps as 
large as a Swedish turnip, and much of it in pieces 
like a walnut. Part of it was fished up and found 



34 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

to be lava formation, the supposition being that it was 
the debris from the great eruptions at Java, which 
had occurred some time previously, and it may be 
remembered caused the loss of nearly 1 00,000 lives. 
The commander of the steamer held the opinion, how- 
ever, that it had not come from that quarter, but more 
likely was an eruption beneath the sea near the latitude 
we were in. The heat increased as we neared the Equator, 
and became quite oppressive, particularly so during the 
night, when we were below in bed. Some of the passen- 
gers felt it so much that they had mattresses brought 
on deck and slept there; but we very soon ran out of 
that high temperature, and the weather became very 
enjoyable. 

The voyage from Ceylon to Australia is about three 
thousand miles, and occupied twelve days. On Monday 
morning, 18th February, we left Colombo, and on the 
second Saturday thereafter we came in sight of Cape 
Leeuwin, the south-west point of Australia. 

What land we saw as we sailed along the coast 
looked bleak and barren, with great patches of sand, 
and almost destitute of vegetation, no habitations of 
any kind being visible. 

The weather had during the last few days become 
quite cold, and during the night especially every avail- 
able covering was acceptable. 

On Sunday morning early we entered King George's 
Sound, and put out the mails at Albany for Western 
Australia. It is quite an unimportant place, and the 
steamer does not stop long. We cast anchor off the port 
at two in the morning, and started again at seven. A 
few of the passengers went ashore to see friends, but 



AUSTRALIA — CAPE LEEUWIN — KING GEORGE'S SOUND. 35 

only two left the steamer permanently. King George's 
Sound is an excellent land-locked harbour, and in former 
times was much resorted to by whalers, when that industry 
was prosecuted in the Southern Seas. Whales seem to 
have deserted the Australian coast now, and the little 
town of Albany, that used to be a busy place, has of 
late years rather fallen back. 

We had been sailing in a southerly direction from 
Ceylon, and had not observed a great round swell that 
was meeting us, coming from the Southern Ocean. 
When we came out from King George's Sound our 
course was changed to due east, and so we had this 
swell on our broadside, which caused the steamer to roll 
heavily. I recollect immediately when we rounded 
upon our course after leaving the Sound that the vessel 
gave a tremendous pitch and roll, dashing the breakfast 
dishes, that had just been set, into the lee of the cabin 
floor with a crash that left hardly one whole dish. I 
do not know who was to blame, but certainly the guards 
should have been on the tables before coming out. I 
daresay I heard that the stewards expected we would 
not sail that morning till after breakfast. In connection 
with that untoward incident, I was informed that the 
crockery bill of the P. and O. Company amounts to 
;£io,ooo annually. 

Our next stopping place was Glenelg, the port for the 
city of Adelaide, and we reached it on the following 
Thursday morning. Nearly all the passengers landed, 
and went up by train to Adelaide, which is seven miles 
inland. We did so, and breakfasted there, spending the 
day seeing what was interesting in and around the city. 

It is a fine city, and is the seat of Government of 



36 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

South Australia. Parliament and the Supreme Law 
Courts are there. There are many spl'endid buildings in 
it, the larger number, however, are only two storeys in 
height, but the streets are much wider than in any town 
I know of the same size at home. This is a favourable 
peculiarity of the colonies. With the exception of 
Sydney, all the cities and towns have very wide and 
regular streets. Generally, too, ample pleasure grounds 
are provided, and other means of relaxation and 
enjoyment. It has a free library of 20,000 volumes, and 
a reference library of 2,000 standard works; but the 
citizens were not content with these, and I found them 
expending £95,000 in the erection of a new public 
library, with art gallery and museum combined, which 
have since been opened. The former governors, in 
handing over 23,000 volumes to the new library, said — 
"The Institute, now supplanted, has done good work in 
its day, and has been instrumental in scattering the seeds 
of intellectual cultivation and development far and wide 
over the colony." Adelaide has a Botanical Garden, 
beautifully laid out and well kept. They have also 
started a Zoological Garden, but had only a very few 
animals when we were there. It seemed to be pretty 
busy, a good many people walking and driving about. 
Shops just like those at home, but instead of the canvas 
sunblinds that our shopkeepers use in summer nearly all 
had permanent awnings in the main streets, forming 
a covered way extending to the margin of the pavement, 
and supported on pillars there. 

The population of Adelaide was 45,000 at the last 
census, but, taking in the suburbs that immediately sur- 
round it, there is a population of nearly 100,000. I 



ADELAIDE — POPULATION — TEMPERATURE. 37 

really cannot tell, however, whether there is any par- 
ticular trade or manufacture carried on. There did not 
appear to be. It had more the look of a residential 
town, resembling Edinburgh in that respect more than 
Glasgow. I observed that fruit was very good and 
plentiful, and very cheap. We bought, at threepence 
per lb., as fine grapes as those raised in the hot-house 
at home, although a little smaller in size ; apples and 
pears, id. and 2d. per lb., both excellent ; fine peaches, 
a halfpenny a piece; and other fruit in like proportion. 

It was very cold when we left the steamer, before 
seven in the morning, but we were advised to make 
provision for a hot day. We therefore put on our 
light Indian costume, and it was well that we did so, 
for before noon the heat was oppressive. When we 
were in the Botanical Gardens I spoke to one of the 
keepers, remarking that it was surely unusually hot 
to-day. He said — " No, the temperature is only 92 
degrees in the shade, all last week it was over 100." 
I expressed surprise at that, but he assured me that 
it was so, and that he thought Adelaide was the 
warmest place in South Australia. That last state- 
ment I was quite willing to believe, for, as we drove 
about the city and passed the streets running north 
and south, the wind that was blowing through them 
came upon us as if out of an oven. Probably it was 
the rapid change from the cool temperature we had 
on board the steamer that made it so uncomfortable, 
but we all agreed in thinking that the heat and sun 
that day in Adelaide was more unbearable than what 
we had experienced in India. 

It was the second week in March, which corresponds 



38 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

to September with us. All along the Australian coast, 
however, the temperature is much affected by the direc- 
tion of the wind; if it blows from the north, as it did 
that day, it will have come over the land and imbibed 
the heat from it ; if from the south, it will have come 
over the sea, and a few days sailing in that direction 
would bring you amongst icebergs. The changes from 
extreme heat to intense cold are therefore sudden, and 
must be very trying on weak constitutions. 

The streets and roads are not kept in the same good 
condition that we generally have them at home, and that 
remark applies to America as well as the Colonies. But 
that is not to be wondered at ; it is a very costly thing 
to make a good street, and it would be very burdensome 
upon a young community, and all the more from the 
greater width they generally make them. They do the 
next best thing, however ; they usually introduce 
tramways earlier than we do in this country. In some 
towns every second or third street has a line running 
through it. The condition of the streets for driving 
over is therefore of less importance when you have 
so many facilities with the tram-cars. The fares 
are about the same as in this country. In the 
Colonies, threepence for the whole distance or any 
part is the usual charge, and you will sometimes get a 
ride of more than three miles for that. In the United 
States it was usually five cents., equal to twopence- 
halfpenny of our money ; and four or five miles was 
quite a customary journey in the large towns. Of course 
very few passengers travel the whole distance, but great 
use is made of the tramways, and it is a cheap and easy 
way of seeing a town, as carriage hiring is generally 



ADELAIDE — STREETS — TRAM-CARS. 39 

dearer than with us, and the roads and streets most 
uncomfortable to travel over. 

In Adelaide we had no friends to visit, and we did not 
think it worth our while remaining a fortnight till the next 
steamer came to take us on to Melbourne. No doubt 
we could have gone overland, but it is said to be a 
most fatiguing and uninteresting journey. There is only 
as yet railway part of the way, and the remainder by 
stage-coach over rough roads. It takes longer to go by 
land than by sea, and very few choose the land route. 
On the following Saturday we arrived at Melbourne, our 
entire voyage taking 20 days, the distance from Colombo 
to Melbourne being close on five thousand miles. 

Not many of the passengers left the steamer for good 
at Adelaide. Some who did were tourists like ourselves, 
and it was curious to find them turning up at other 
places afterwards. We parted with some there whom we 
had travelled with from Calcutta, and we met them 
again in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland in New 
Zealand. One Glasgow gentleman, who was in the 
Mirzapore when we joined her at Colombo, left here. 
He called for us at our hotel in Melbourne when we 
were absent. We saw his luggage in the hotel we stayed 
at in Sydney when he was absent in Queensland, and we 
came together two months afterwards in Auckland. He 
went with us to the Hot Lake district, called the Wonder- 
land of New Zealand, and we parted with him last at San 
Francisco. Two young ladies and their brother, who had 
sailed with us from Calcutta, and stayed at the same 
hotel with us at Colombo, went by China and Japan. 
We met again in Washington, United States, and sailed 
over together in the Oregon from New York. 



40 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

Melbourne is not on the seaboard, but is situated about 
nine miles up from Port Phillip, upon the river Yarra; or, 
as I believe it was called by the natives, Yarra- Yarra, 
which, I understand, signifies "running, running." Port 
Phillip, at first called Hobson Bay, is quite an inland sea, 
with a very narrow entrance, through which the tide rushes 
with great force, making it at times almost impassable ex- 
cept to powerful steamers. We were told that in certain 
states of the wind it was at the entrance highly dangerous. 
No doubt that would be when the tide was running out, and 
a strong wind and large waves from the Southern Ocean 
were meeting it at the narrow passage which is called " the 
rip." and is only about a mile broad. The rise and fall 
every twelve hours of so large a sheet of water as Port 
Phillip contains must make a great commotion running 
in and out, particularly so as the passage is not clear 
all the way across, but is blocked with a reef of rocks 
extending out nearly a third of its width. No vessel 
ever enters without a pilot. Port Phillip is, I think, as 
nearly as possible forty miles square, but it is not deep 
water throughout ; there are some shoals. The channel 
for vessels of a large size is round the eastern margin ; 
smaller ones can make a straight course in sailing 
out. The largest vessels do not go up to Melbourne, but 
discharge and take in cargo at the mouth of the Yarra, at 
William's Town. The authorities, however, are most 
desirous to have all the shipping brought up to the 
city, and are now busy widening and deepening the river. 
They are also engaged in cutting a passage at a bend, 
which will shorten the distance by about two miles. It 
will then be seven miles by river, but to measure in a 
straight line from the city to the bay is less than five 



MELBOURNE — PORT PHILLIP — WILLIAM'S TOWN. 41 

miles ; and I met many in Melbourne who held the 
opinion that it would have been a wise expenditure of 
public money to have made a cut direct to the bay. 
The ground was entirely level, and no engineering diffi- 
culties seemed to be in the way. There is a railway 
from the wharf where the large steamers are berthed ; 
the carriages come alongside, and passengers and baggage 
are carried to the city in thirty minutes, where you 
have to pass the Customs. The Customs officials were 
more particular at Melbourne than at Calcutta or 
Colombo. Indeed, at Calcutta our baggage was not 
examined at all, and at Colombo only one box was 
opened, the officer mentioning that it was done to enable 
him to say that he had examined it. At Melbourne 
our baggage was all opened, but very superficially in- 
spected. I observed, however, that returned colonists had 
theirs more carefully looked at, they being much more 
likely than tourists to bring contraband goods with 
them. 

Our first impressions of Melbourne were most favour- 
able. It came into view as we sailed towards the wharf 
at William's Town, and appeared to be a much larger 
city than we had anticipated. Spreading in all direc- 
tions it seemed to cover a great space of ground, and 
even from that distance we could observe numerous 
church spires and prominent buildings. One in parti- 
cular, with a handsome dome, which we afterwards 
found to be the International Exhibition building, bore 
a singular resemblance to St. Paul's Cathedral. Indeed, 
in many respects Melbourne brought up the recollection 
of London more than any other city I have ever seen. 
Of course it is much less as regards population, but 



42 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



with its surrounding suburbs covers a great extent of 
ground. Its original founders were wise in their genera- 
tion, and laid off wide streets at regular intervals, thus 
preserving good air-channels throughout the city. I 
found also that the Legislature had an Amendment of 
the Health Act in hand, in which building regulations 
had a prominent place. And I may say, not a moment 
too soon, for I observed in the very centre of the 
business part of the city, narrow passages, which no 
doubt had originally been intended only for meuse lanes 
to the houses fronting the wide streets; and these were 
now being rapidly filled up with buildings. These lanes, 
named after the streets they run parallel to, are now called 
Little Collins Street, Little Bourke Street, and Little 
Lonsdale Street. 

There was one other matter, now about to be re- 
medied, but which still I must not omit to mention, lest 
it should be thought that it had escaped my observation, 
or that I approved of the arrangement. I refer to the 
open gutters which convey the city sewage to the river. 
Even in the principal streets these conduits carry their 
filthy load past the noses of the pavement pedestrians, 
and in hot weather must be very offensive. When heavy 
rains occur the gutters are almost impassable. Indeed, 
provision is made for crossing opposite every other shop 
door by an arched bridge, 10 or 12 feet long, extending 
from the pavement to the street. The River Yarra above 
the city is beautiful, but from the city to the sea it is 
not attractive ; its insanitary condition will soon demand 
attention. When thus venturing to criticise the arrange- 
ments of Melbourne, we should not forget that the 
building regulations of Glasgow are still very defective, 



MELBOURNE — SANITARY CONDITION — EXHIBITION. 43 

and that we have not yet found any better method 
of sewage disposal than the objectionable one of pour- 
ing it into the Clyde ; and so, instead of condemning 
them, we should rather wonder that towns which have 
grown so rapidly possess already so many of the com- 
forts and luxuries of city life. 

Building ground in the centre of the city brings a very 
high price. I cannot contrast it with the price paid in 
Glasgow, where it is sold at so much a square yard. In 
Melbourne it is sold by the foot frontage. I heard some 
startling statements of the great advance that had taken 
place in the value of ground within quite a limited period. 
Indeed, it is not yet fifty years since the first house was 
built. One story occurs to me : — A servant girl, some 
forty years ago, asked her master to put her savings of 
twenty pounds in safe keeping. He was then purchasing 
an allotment in Elizabeth Street for a client, and by 
adding five pounds to the girl's twenty, he bought an 
adjoining lot for her. That same piece of ground is 
now yielding a thousand pounds annually. Rents, I 
believe, are quite as high in Melbourne as in Glasgow. 

The International Exhibition Building belongs to the 
Colony, and has cost upwards of two hundred and fifty 
thousand pounds. It is a magnificent structure, and 
being on the highest ground in the city, it is well seen 
from a great distance all around. In its general form 
it bears some resemblance to a cathedral, with nave 
and transept, and a dome rising from the centre. 

The length of the building from east to west inside 
the doorways is 500 feet. A balcony runs round the 
main building inside, and there are picture galleries east 
and west thirty feet wide. The. walls are of stone. 



44 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

The dome itself is a massive and elegant piece of work, 
two hundred and fifty feet in height to the flagstaff that 
surmounts it. Around the base of the dome, at about 
two hundred feet from the ground, there is a prome- 
nade, from which a magnificent view of Melbourne and 
the surrounding suburbs can be obtained. There is a 
large open space around it laid out in pleasure ground, 
and being near the centre of the city, it is much resorted 
to, and, along with the building, is used in the same 
manner as our Crystal Palace at Sydenham. 

There is no city that I know of so well off in the 
matter of pleasure grounds. In and around the city 
there are eight public parks, and all beautifully kept. 
The most attractive, however, is the Botanical Gardens, 
picturesquely situated on the banks of the Yarra. In 
them are to be found rare shrubs and flowers from every 
clime. These grounds are very exquisitely laid out, 
diversified with hill and dale, wood and water, and are 
open at all times to the public. Government House, 
the residence of the Governor, is immediately adjoining 
these beautiful gardens, and its amenity is greatly 
enhanced thereby. I had the honour of an interview 
with the Governor, Earl Norma nby, to whom I had 
an introduction from Earl Derby, Secretary for the 
Colonies. 

It is almost impossible to realize that not more than 
40 years ago that part near the centre of the city, on 
which the Exhibition Building now stands, was all covered 
with the Australian bush, and that lawless freebooters 
had as secure shelter there as in old times Sherwood 
Forest afforded to Robin Hood. Now all around for 
many miles is entirely cleared and the ground laid out 



MELBOURNE — PUBLIC PARKS — STREET TRAFFIC. 45 

in streets and largely built over with terraces and 
crescents like those of our own west- end. 

With the advantages of these extensive pleasure grounds, 
the people of Melbourne have besides numerous facilities 
for getting to the country beyond. There is a complete 
system of cheap omnibuses, and small waggonettes, at the 
same fares as the omnibuses, plying constantly to the 
near suburbs. Drivers of these conveyances have much 
higher wages than those in similar situations at home, 
but their duties are somewhat extended. 

There are no guards upon the omnibuses in the 
Colonies or in the United States. Passengers are re- 
quested to put their fare through a slit in a glass box 
at the back of the driver's seat, access to which is had 
from the inside of the omnibus, and when any one re- 
quires change, it is got from the driver by passing it 
through a round hole at his side. When you put your 
fare through the slit, it remains in sight till he touches 
a spring, which lets it fall into the box below. No 
passenger can enter or leave the 'bus without the driver 
knowing, as he has the door under control by a strap 
at his hand. If the passenger does not at once put his 
fare into the box the driver rings a bell. The entrance 
door is constructed to cover the back steps, and so no 
one can ride there. 

They are now about to introduce tramways, and I 
was informed that the reason why they had not done 
so long since was that the company and the corporation 
could not agree upon the terms. The latter proposed 
to construct them on a similar footing to ours in 
Glasgow — which the company, I believe, have at last 
agreed to ; and I understand that since we were there 



46 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 



a loan for a large amount has been floated in London 
to pay for their construction, the City Corporation 
guaranteeing the payment. Probably the very con- 
siderable elevation in the streets leading to the north 
has been an obstacle to the use of tramways in them. 
I hope they may have the good sense, when laying 
down the rails, to make arrangements for working the 
cars by cable rather than by horses. 

The method is very simple. I saw the cable cars 
running at Dunedin, in New Zealand ; at San Francisco, 
in California ; and at Chicago. If you suppose for a 
moment that the method of pulling the cars is the same 
as the N.B. Railway have for drawing their carriages up 
the tunnel to Cowlairs, but that instead of the rope 
which there runs over grooved wheels above ground, 
the whole thing — rope and wheels — is placed in a 
a small tunnel beneath the space between the rails that 
the cars run on. A longitudinal opening of about an 
inch wide is made over the top of the sunk tunnel just 
over the rope, and a strong iron rod fixed to the front 
of the car passes down through this slit or opening of 
the tunnel, and by means of a clutch like a pair of 
nippers seizes on the rope, and thus the car is drawn 
along. When the driver wishes to stop the car, he does 
so by letting the nippers open, which lets the rope free, 
and using the break the car is stopped. By this means 
a whole city can be worked in the safest and quietest 
possible manner, and I believe much more economically 
than by any other way, especially so if there are steep 
gradients. I am glad to know that there is some prospect 
of this method being adopted in Edinburgh, and equally 
sorry that the Corporation of Glasgow have not taken 



MELBOURNE— HORSE RACING. 47 

it in the extension of their tramway system now in 
contemplation, for which the cable cars would have been 
admirably suited. 

The Australians are a sport-loving people. 

Horse-racing was going on when we arrived at Mel- 
bourne. It was the last of three days' racing, and we 
had the opportunity of witnessing it. I was the only one 
of my party who had ever been at any meeting of the 
kind before, so we accompanied our friends to the course. 
I must say that if the pastime is to be defended at all the 
Victorians present the best case possible. It was com- 
puted that more than fifty thousand people were present 
that day; and looked upon from the elevation of the 
Grand Stand they had a most respectable and orderly 
appearance. On the Stand itself, which is a handsome 
permanent building, seated in ascending rows for several 
thousands, so that every one can see all that is going 
on in front, the best people of Melbourne were pointed out 
to us. No public betting is permitted there, the betting 
men are relegated to an enclosure" near the stables, so 
that anything that might be offensive is in a manner hid. 

When the Melbourne Cup is run for it is said 
that usually eighty thousand people are present. The 
scene on that day is reported to be unique and 
imposing. Visitors come from all parts of the country, 
and in considerable numbers from the adjacent colonies. 
The city seems to empty itself, as endless lines of carri- 
ages, and a vast tide of human beings, hurry to the 
course by road and rail. A galaxy of wealth, fashion, 
and beauty appears upon the Grand Stand such as 
cannot be found elsewhere in the colonies, and which is 
scarcely outrivalled in Europe. 



48 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

Horse-racing is probably the amusement that attracts 
all classes most, but boating, yachting, bowling, bicycling, 
cricket, lawn tennis, gymnastics, and other recreative 
amusements have all their share of popularity. 

Hotel accommodation in the colonies is as yet rather 
defective. I do not know whether the circumstance that 
hotels are so numerous there has anything to do with 
that, but it is the case that they are to be counted by 
the hundred ; in fact, there are upwards of a thousand in 
Melbourne, and none of them are very large. No license 
is granted to any merely wine and spirit shop ; all 
must have the capacity, less or more, of hotels. I was 
told that no new license is given to any premises now 
with less than 20 bedrooms, but the license is not with- 
drawn from smaller houses previously licensed unless for 
some default. I suppose the object aimed at in only 
licensing hotels was to discredit dram-drinking. I fear, 
however, that the invariable bar attached to all of them 
has somewhat frustrated that desirable object. One effect 
has been gained, I should think, viz., to quicken the 
ingenuity of hotel-keepers in finding names to dis- 
tinguish them. I think it would have been impossible to 
get a thousand different acceptable names for the Mel- 
bourne hotels. I had the curiosity to turn up their 
Directory at the word Hotel, and, as might be expected 
I found there were a good many duplicates, and some 
names were in still higher favour. The Colonists are 
intensely loyal — no one can now have any doubt of that — 
and so the prefix Royal distinguishes no less than 42 
hotels; Victoria and Queen are also favourites, for 31 have 
either of these ; 26 have Prince or Princess ; and a dozen 
are pleased to be known as British or Britain. I observed 



HOTEL ACCOMMODATION IN THE COLONIES. 49 

that two hotels held out the tempting offer of rest and 
refreshment beneath the Glasgow Arms. When speaking 
of these hotels, I should not omit to mention that there 
were ten under the banner of temperance — three coffee 
palaces, two of which were the finest and largest I have 
seen anywhere; they are the property of Joint Stock 
Companies, and I was told were doing well. The hotel 
we went to — The Grand — was only opened the week 
before our arrival. It is one of the largest in the city. 
We were very comfortable in it, the food was excellent, 
the attendance good, and all in charge most civil and 
obliging. The charges we thought very moderate in all 
the hotels we were in, varying from ios. to 12s. 6d. a 
day each for board and lodging, and the same for a 
private parlour. 

You are charged by the day in the Australian hotels, 
and, indeed, in almost every other country except in 
Britain. I very much prefer it. Sometimes you may be 
a gainer by having the several items only charged, if 
you happen to be absent from many meals; but take it 
all round, it is much more convenient and simple. I 
found on board the steamer we went out in many of 
the Australian gentlemen fretting at the hotel charges 
in this country, particularly at the item "attendance." 
"Why," they asked, "should hotel-keepers charge for that 
which shopkeepers do not ? you get attendance from 
them as well, and it is never specially charged. Besides, 
the servants in Britain always looked for a tip, notwith- 
standing paying it in the bill." They hoped that travellers 
from this side would not introduce the tipping system, 
they did not like it, but paid their servants well so that 

it was not looked for. I rather fear that some of the 

G 



50 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

servants have a different opinion on the matter, although 
I must admit that they did not show it in any obtrusive 
manner. 

I should make one exception in regard to hotel charges, 
and that was in respect of European wines — which, how- 
ever, I never heard asked for except on one occasion. 
Almost invariably it was the native wine that was drank 
at table. Indeed, the price put upon all European wines 
was quite prohibitive. I happen to have the Grand Hotel 
wine list by me, and I see from it that Burgundy is 20s. a 
bottle, Champagnes, 12s. and 13s., Port from 7s. 6d. to 20s., 
Hock from 10s. to 20s., Sherry 7s. 6d. to 12s., and Clarets 
5 s. to 1 os. The highest price for Australian wine on their 
card is 4s. for one particular brand, all the others 3s. a 
bottle, and I recollect of seeing some of these in grocers' 
shops ticketed is. a bottle. There is not much wine drank 
at the hotel dinner table, but more in the Colonies than 
in America, although less there than in this country in 
similar circumstances. I observed, however, that some 
who took none at the table resorted to the bar immediately 
after dinner, and I suspect had something stronger than 
wine there. That remark applies to both the Colonies 
and America. In both, tea has largely taken the place 
of wine at the dinner table. 

There appeared to me to be much less drinking 
amongst the working-classes in the Colonies and in 
America than there is at home. Where the labouring 
classes have many opportunities for enjoying themselves 
in the open air, they do not so readily resort 
to the public-house. The bright, clear atmosphere 
so constantly prevailing in Australia and New Zealand 
begets no craving for stimulants, as I fear the dull, 



MELBOURNE — PRICES OF WINES — VISIT TO THE SLUMS. 51 

depressing climate of this country does. Of course all 
the greater merit to those here who withstand it ; but 
I feel that allowance should be made for these differing 
conditions in which the same classes are placed here 
and abroad when we contrast them. There is another 
reason for greater sobriety there than here that should 
not be overlooked — the working-classes are much better 
housed than at home. I question if there is such 
a thing as a single-apartment occupancy in Mel- 
bourne, while we know there are very many in Scotland, 
and particularly in Glasgow. The English style of 
cottage building prevails throughout the Colonies, thereby 
securing greater privacy and more accommodation. No 
doubt it involves higher rents, but then the working 
classes have better wages, and can well afford to pay more 
rent. The style of living, in short, is altogether above 
that of the average of working men in this country, both 
as regards food and lodging. But notwithstanding that, I 
could not but suppose that there would be some poor 
people in Melbourne, as there is in every large city, and 
I asked a young friend in the medical profession there to 
direct me where to find them. He said — " You had better 
get some one to accompany you, as it is best to go at 
night, and you would not be safe alone. Saturday 
night is the right time, and if you can meet me at ten, 
I will arrange to have a detective officer accompany us." 
The last Saturday night I was in Melbourne we met 
by appointment, and, accompanied by two experienced 
officers, inspected the slums in Little Bourke Street, one 
of the narrow lanes, and within not more than a stone's 
throw of the most fashionable and highly-rented shops 
in the city. We plunged into a labyrinth of dark pas- 



52 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

sages and inferior property that those who only frequent 
the front streets would never think existed. Some of 
the houses we entered were Chinese gaming shops, these 
in many instances crowded to the door, the greatest 
excitement prevailing amongst the men surrounding the 
gaming tables, who were all Chinese. The games were 
quite novel to me ; I had never seen the like before, 
the cards used having Chinese characters, and not the 
marks that we are familiar with. Our two detectives 
pushed the bystanders aside to make an opening for us 
to see the game, which 'went on all the same. Those 
in charge knew the detectives well, as they periodically 
visit, but seldom require to interfere. In some of the 
houses opium smoking was going on. Those indulging 
in that were lying on couches and some on beds, but 
none undressed. The atmosphere in these houses was 
abominable, such as only a Chinaman can stand. After 
being in a number of them I explained to the detectives 
that my young friend had evidently misapprehended my 
desire and object in the visits we had been making — that 
it was not the Chinese, but the very poor of the city, I 
was desirous to see. To my great surprise they informed 
me that of that class there really was none to take me 
to. There was an institution, they said, supported by 
subscriptions, to which the few aged and wholly destitute 
could go who had no relations to assist them ; but of 
the wretched poor as a class there really was none in 
Melbourne ; and I am bound to say I saw none neither 
in appearance nor in the act of begging all the four 
months we were in the Colonies. 

The Chinese have the reputation of being clever workers 
in wood, and I believe many of those in Melbourne are 



CHINESE GAMBLING HOUSES — CHINESE LABOUR. 53 

employed as carpenters and joiners. They are also largely 
engaged in washing and dressing, the laundries being 
almost entirely in their hands ; but probably the employ- 
ment in which the largest number are engaged is market 
gardening; in that they greatly excel. I may say, how- 
ever, that they are not regarded with favour by other 
workmen, as they are contented with lower wages. There 
is an agitation on foot in the Colonies to have a capita- 
tion tax imposed upon them, as in America. 

The recognised working day for artizans and labourers 
is eight hours. They usually commence work at eight, 
taking breakfast before that; they go to dinner from 
twelve to one, and stop altogether at five. I don't think 
the Saturday half-holiday, that our working-classes lay 
so much store by, is in practice there. If it is anywhere, 
it will be got by shortening the meal time, as the full 
forty-eight hours is held to be the working week. 

The figure eight is a favourite one with the working man 
in Australia. He holds that work should never be pro- 
longed past eight hours a day, that wages should never 
be below 8s. a day, and that eight hours should be allowed 
for rest, and eight for play ; and from all that I could learn 
he has fairly well attained to that ideal. Annually there 
is a great demonstration in honour of the eight-hours move- 
ment in Melbourne. It occurred whilst we were there, 
and took the form of a monster procession such as we 
had in Glasgow when laying the foundation-stone of our 
New Municipal Buildings in George Square. Every trade 
was represented; the various handicrafts were shown in 
operation, as with us, on platforms erected on large 
lorries, with flags and banners flying, and with numerous 
bands of music. It was a gay and imposing scene ; but 



54 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

not more so than the magnificent spectacle I had 
witnessed in our own city just six months before on the 
occasion I have referred to. 

It may be interesting to some to know the wages 
earned by workers in Victoria. I believe the rates I 
quote are quite reliable, and they are confirmed in an 
article in the Scottish Review of October last referring 
to the sister Colony of New South Wales, and I believe 
may be held applicable to the whole of Australia. 
Ploughmen receive from 18s. to 22s. 6d. a week; 
shepherds from £30 to £50 per annum ; stock-keepers 
from £40 to £55; all these having rations added. 
Masons, carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, and slaters 
10s. a day ; plumbers, coachbuilders, brassfinishers, 
coppersmiths, and the iron trade generally, from £2 5s. 
to £3 12s. per week; painters and glaziers, 9s. a day; 
saddlers from 25s. to £2 15s. per week; tanners and 
curriers from £2 to £3 10s. ; tailors from £2 to £3; 
drapers, salesmen, and upholsterers from £2 10s. to £4 ; 
jewellers from £2 15s. to £3 15s.; watchmakers from 
£3 1 os. to £$ ; lithographers and binders from £2 10s. 
to £3; compositors, is. per 1,000 ens; gardeners from 
15s. to 25s. per week; labourers from 5s. to 7s. a day; 
grooms from 30s. to 40s. a week ; coachmen from 35s. 
to 50s. ; married couple, without family, for home stations, 
from £60 to £90 per annum, with board and lodgings ; 
married couples, with family, from £40 to £50; men 
cooks on farms and stations, from £4$ to £$$ ; female 
cooks, the same; general servants, nursemaids, and house- 
maids, from £25 to £35 per annum; milliners from 35s. 
to £3 1 os. per week ; needlewomen and dressmakers 
from 15s. to. 20s.; and tailoresses from 20s. to 35s. 



WAGES IN VICTORIA — HOW TO SUCCEED. 55 

I cannot speak with the same assurance of the remun- 
eration available to those in situations where payment is 
by salary. I rather fear there are not so many vacancies 
to fill as amongst the wage-earning class; and certainly 
in no case need any idle, dissolute, or aimless youth go 
there — for such there is no opening whatever. Even the 
most energetic will likely have difficulties to encounter, 
and therefore I would not have any one implicitly 
depend that immediately on landing in Australia they 
will at once drop into a satisfactory situation. Through- 
out the Colonies at the present time trade and commerce 
are depressed, and many are out of employment. The 
authorities, at several of the places we visited, were 
providing labour for the unemployed. Besides, it 
must ever be borne in mind that the man who can only 
turn his hand to one thing is ill-fitted to be a Colonist. 
He may, of course, by chance as it were, get the very 
thing that suits him ; but it is much more likely that 
he may find it necessary to accept any employment 
that turns up, and unless he is prepared to do so he 
had better stay at home. I heard numerous instances 
of prosperous and successful men who had commenced 
their careers in the Colonies in quite different callings 
from those which they had followed at home. I feel 
much responsibility in offering any opinion on this sub- 
ject. But I am sure I am safe in saying this, that the 
man who will get on best in Australia is the active, 
industrious fellow who usually gets on well at home. 
But, in any case, I would have no one harbour the thought 
that in going to the Colonies he is required to make sacri- 
fice of the usual amenities of social life, for with confidence 
I give the assurance that in the large towns at least he 



56 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

will find what should satisfy him in all respects. Take 
Melbourne, for instance. It has four daily and two 
evening newspapers, with eight additional published every 
Saturday — three of which are illustrated. There are also 
several fortnightly and monthly magazines. To say that 
their newspapers are ably conducted is the simple truth, 
and it is not too much to say that some of them may well 
take rank with the best of our home press, and are far ahead 
of the average American newspaper. In their columns 
every morning you will find all the important events of 
the previous day recorded that have occurred through- 
out the world, and extracts from leading British news- 
papers, all transmitted by telegraph cable. 

Amusements of every kind — an Opera House, several 
theatres acid music halls — an Athenaeum and many other 
Halls for public meetings. All the literature that we 
possess you will find on the shelves of their libraries and 
free reading room. In the matter of a Free Public 
Library Melbourne has set Glasgow a noble example, 
for it has provided a splendid building, costing upwards 
of a hundred thousand pounds, in which there is sitting 
accommodation for 600 readers, and has more than a 
hundred thousand volumes in it. There is also a Picture 
Gallery and a Statue Gallery, in which are many rare 
works of art ; a Museum also, in which there are more 
than forty thousand specimens, all labelled and classified. 
Churches of every denomination ; and there being no 
church established by law the State knows no one 
denomination more than another. The most perfect 
religious liberty and equality prevails. Primary educa- 
tion is entirely free, but under control of the Govern- 
ment ; and promising pupils may win State exhibitions 



AMENITIES — FREE LIBRARY — EMIGRATION. 57 

to carry them to the University and to higher education 
in certain special schools and colleges, and there- 
fore I would say that to the man who has only a limited 
capital, but who is actuated by an honourable ambition to 
get on in the world, and improve the circumstances and pros- 
pects of his family, who is not afraid of a little roughness 
at first, or of hard toil thereafter, and who can suit 
himself to new conditions and take advantage of 
them, our own Colonies — Australia, New Zealand, Canada 
— present fields of enterprise and usefulness probably 
equal to any to be found in the world ; and the working 
man, when he finds employment there, will have these 
advantages over his chances at home — his hours of 
labour will be shorter, and the climate being more 
genial, he will have greater comfort in outdoor work, 
and more opportunities of outdoor enjoyments. His 
wages generally will be higher, and his food upon the 
whole cheaper. His expenses for dress need not be 
appreciably greater; and if he has a family the school- 
master will cost him nothing, as education is free to all. 
And, finally, if he succeeds in rising above the condi- 
tion of a wage-earner into that of an employer of labour, 
there will likely be a larger number around him who have 
travelled the same road to riches as himself than he would 
find in like circumstances in the old country. 

Whilst speaking thus favourably of life in the Colonies, 
I am offering no positive opinion as to the desirability 
of emigrating. Everyone must make up his own mind 
as to that. It is also of momentous importance to make 
the right choice where to go. Various considerations 
will influence the decision. All that I desire to say 

upon it is, that there is not the slightest necessity for 

H 



58 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

anyone changing his nationality when he leaves these 
shores. Under no other flag that I know of is there 
greater freedom ; under no other is there a surer prospect 
of prosperty, of health and happiness, of true liberty — 
civil and religious — than is to be found in that Greater 
Britain whose value and importance to us we are only 
now beginning to apprehend. And the only merit which 
I attach to the words I am now speaking is, just in so 
far as they may influence those who do intend to emi- 
grate, not to change their allegiance when they leave us, 
but to keep under the old flag, thus remaining still an 
integral part of the grand old British Empire. 

I need hardly assure you that there is ample space 
unoccupied both in Australasia and in Canada ; for whilst 
in these British Isles there are nearly 300 persons for 
every square mile of land, there is as yet only an average 
of one person to each square mile on those vast ter- 
ritories of which I have been speaking. A glance at 
the map which is now before you will show clearly how 
large a country Australia is, and how small in compari- 
son to it is Great Britain and Ireland. But probably 
your eyes may not convey to your mind the exact pro- 
portion, and you may be better able to form an estimate 
when I tell you that Australia is more than 24 times 
the size of Great Britain and Ireland, including also the 
Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. 

I have already said that our first look of Melbourne 
brought back the recollection of London to us; and when 
you take the population which each of these cities has 
within their own municipal bounds, the resemblance is 
greater than is generally thought, for both cities, taken in 
that way, have just about seventy thousand inhabitants. 



POPULATION — OTHER TOWNSHIPS. 59 

Neither city, however, has its population so computed, 
for London, the capital of England, is acknowledged 
to contain more than four millions of people, and 
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, is put down as having 
304,410. This of course, like London, includes its suburbs, 
and takes in a dozen townships, all having separate govern- 
ment ; indeed, there are five of these entitled to be called 
independent cities — known as the City of Colingwood, 
City of Fitzroy, City of Richmond, City of South Mel- 
bourne, and City of Prahran. Each of these has upwards 
of 20,000 inhabitants ; but I understand that in the 
colonies the qualification for the title of " City " rests in 
having a clear public revenue from rates and taxes of 
£20,000 per annum. That accounts for the city of Mel- 
bourne appearing so very extensive, these separate towns 
being close to it. Indeed, it would not be easy to say, 
unless with a map before you, where the one ends and the 
other begins. Melbourne itself, although, as I tell you, con- 
taining less than 70,000 of population, occupies an area 
little short of Glasgow, for it is spread over 5,020 acres, 
while Glasgow within its Parliamentary boundaries has 
only 5,063 acres, and on that comparatively small surface 
there is a population of upwards of 520,000. The entire 
municipality of Glasgow, however, is 6,111 acres, there 
having been 1,048 added to it for municipal purposes since 
the Parliamentary boundaries were fixed in 1832; but on 
this additional acreage there are only about 23,000 of 
population. Glasgow, if computed in the same way as 
London and Melbourne, would be a large city, if the 
population of its suburbs were included, as they cer- 
tainly ought to be. 

The population of the whole of Australasia is a little over 



60 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

three millions, and Victoria has nearly a third of the whole ; 
New South Wales comes next with a population of about 
870,000 ; then New Zealand with about the same popula- 
tion as Glasgow, viz., 550,000. The importance of the 
Australian Colonies, however, is not to be measured by 
the extent of their population, but by the amount of their 
trade and also by their prospective future development. 
It is a startling and surprising fact that the commerce of 
Australia is now greater than was that of the United 
Kingdom at the accession of Queen Victoria. The statis- 
tics of the Australian Colonies show last year an import 
and export trade of one hundred millions sterling, while 
that of the United Kingdom in 1836 was only ninety-three 
millions. 

I felt curious to know how much of this trade came to 
Great Britain, and I find that last year we imported from 
Australia merchandise to the value of .£26,839,490 sterling, 
and we exported to them ^25,936,201 . The trade of 
Australia therefore with the mother country in 1883 has 
been nearly fifty-three millions sterling. 

Victoria, which in wealth and population has hitherto 
been regarded as the most important of the Australian 
Colonies, imposes the highest import duties on manu- 
factured goods ; in point of fact, it may be said 
to have a protective tariff, and raises a large portion 
of its revenue by duties on imported articles, the 
professed object being to encourage home manufactures. 
New South Wales and the other colonies impose somewhat 
lower duties, and may be considered in a measure free. 
The colonies have great emulation, and are very jealous of 
each other. Victoria is now being hard pressed for the 
foremost place by its sister colony ; in fact, in the matter 



FREE TRADE — CUSTOMS DUTIES — AUSTRALIAN WINES. 61 

of foreign trade, New South Wales has now gone ahead 
of Victoria, for its imports in 1883 were three millions, and 
its exports three and a half millions sterling greater, whilst 
upwards of a million more tons of shipping visited the free 
trade colony. 

Of course none of them is absolutely free. They have 
all less or more import duties, the difference being in 
degree. Victoria puts high duties upon such goods as 
can be made in the colony, with a view to keeping the 
home trade to itself, and employing its own people. They 
thus in a measure loose the stimulus of foreign competi- 
tion. The other Colonies exact lower duties, and for 
public revenue only, just as Britain does. We profess 
to be a free trade country, but we are only so to a 
certain degree, for in 1883 we levied customs duties 
on upwards of thirty millions sterling of imported goods, 
seven millions sterling of which were from our own 
Colonies ; seventy thousands pounds' worth came from 
Australia. The goods from Australia on which import 
duty is levied, I presume, would be wine. I do not 
know of any other commodity that Australia produces 
on which duty would be exigible. Tobacco is grown in 
some parts, but I am not aware that it is exported to 
this country. 

As regards the Australian wine, I believe it has greatly 
improved of late years. The earlier exportations did not 
give satisfaction. The colonists seemed to think that a 
poor and cheap wine would compete most successfully 
with the vintages of Europe. But such quality did not 
keep well, becoming sour and otherwise getting out of 
condition, thus bringing discredit on the production. 
They are now, however, giving greater attention to this 



62 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

branch of industry, and producing a really good wine, 
which I understand is finding favour in this country and 
in America. 

We were about two months in Melbourne (we made 
it our headquarters), but in the course of that time we 
visited Sydney, the capital of the adjoining colony, and 
made excursions to other towns and places of interest in 
the interior. 

I had been hearing of some wonderful trees that 
could be seen not very far away from Melbourne, and 
on inquiring at a friend I found they could be reached 
in one day's journey by road and rail. Accompanied 
by my friend, my son and I made an early start by 
railway to Lilydale ; breakfasted there, and proceeded 
onwards by 4-horse coach to Fernshaw, where we 
lunched. Whilst waiting till the horses were brought 
out I got into conversation with the landlord, asking him 
if we were far from the big trees. He said that we were 
just about to ascend the Black Spur — a mountain 
covered with a dense forest extending over many miles, 
and there I would see them. I spoke incredulously of 
the great height they were said to be. He felt a little 
offended, and said to me, " If you come to my back 
garden you will see one that fell there a year ago, and 
you can measure it yourself. It is not by any means 
one of the largest, but I daresay you have never seen 
one so large." I went with him and saw the immense 
tree. It had fallen across the river, and I passed over 
it, and walked along the trunk up into the wood beyond 
— its length being 381 feet. We started on foot ahead 
of the coach, and had walked several miles up the 
Black Spur before it overtook us, and so had ample 



COUNTRY RIDE — GIGANTIC TREES — FOREST SCENERY. 63 

opportunity of examining the giants of the forest. Never 
before had I seen such tall trees, and probably never will 
again, unless I return to Australia. For although the 
trees in California have more timber than these, they do 
not grow so high. Many of those we were looking on 
were upwards of 400 feet, and we were informed that 
some 500 feet in height were to be found. These great 
trees are of the Eucalyptus tribe, a species of gum tree, 
of which there are 27 varieties. Those we saw were 
perfectly straight and carry no branches on the first 
150 or 200 feet of their length, and I would say were 
50 to 60 feet in circumference. 

It was about 70 miles to Marysville, 40 miles of the 
distance over such roads as we never see in this country ; 
and some portion of the journey was over what is called 
" Corduroy," which simply means cut trees laid across 
the road, and you can understand the shaking which 
travelling over such as that involved. Another country 
trip we took was to Fern Tree Gully, a well known resort 
of excursionists, about 20 miles from Melbourne. The 
forest scenery there is splendid, and abounds with tree 
ferns 30 and 40 feet in height and beautifully furnished. 
It is noteworthy to relate that at a small place which I 
went to see named Sorento, some 30 miles from Mel- 
bourne — a place as yet in its infancy, for there were 
not more than 200 of resident population — I observed 
a solitary, although rather an imposing building in the 
middle of a sandy waste; it was a mechanics' institute, 
furnished with a free library of 500 volumes, erected by 
the proprietor of the estate as an attraction to working 
men. I suspect in this country we are more accustomed 
to seeing property owners planting spirit shops at the 



64 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

corners of their streets to attract large rents into their 
own pockets. 

We visited Sydney also, the capital of New South 
Wales. We went to it by sea and returned by railway. 
The great feature of Sydney is its splendid natural 
harbour. We would not call it a harbour at all, any 
more than we call the Frith of Clyde one from the 
Cumbraes upwards ; and the harbour of Sydney is even 
more extensive than all that. I have heard it said that 
the shore-line surrounding it measuring up the numer- 
ous indents and around the various bays would count up 
a total of over 1,100 miles. I had not the curiosity to 
test the calculation by exploration or otherwise, but I 
could well see that the shore-line was very great indeed. 
The city is almost completely surrounded by water, and 
presents most admirable facilities for carrying on its great 
and rapidly increasing maritime trade. Perhaps no port 
in the world has a larger fleet of small passenger 
steamers than Sydney has plying to the various landing 
places surrounding its capacious harbour. I recollect 
asking one of the captains of the little craft if he 
knew how many there were. He replied there must be 
three or four hundred. He returned to me before I 
left his steamer and said he had understated the number 
by fully a hundred. I expressed surprise, but he assured 
me he was correct, and, pointing into a bay we were 
then passing, he asked me to count how many were there. 
I made out 1 8, but he showed me there were five more; 
in fact, you can form no conception of their number 
from anything of the kind to be seen elsewhere. 

The fare charged is generally very moderate, and they 
seemed to get plenty to do. It was the Easter holi- 



SYDNEY — HARBOUR — PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 65 

days when we were there, and both horse racing and 
boat racing were in full swing. Hanlan, the celebrated 
Canadian sculler, was there, and had received an ovation 
on his arrival such as we in this country reserve for 
distinguished generals or eminent statesmen. Donald 
Dinnie, the Scottish Athlete, was drawing crowds to see 
his feats performed when we were in Melbourne, and 
I have no doubt would be welcomed heartily when he 
went to Sydney. 

There are splendid building sites for villas, and mansions 
well taken up all along the opposite shores fronting the 
harbour, but the city itself did not impress us so favour- 
ably as Melbourne had done. There was an hour's rain 
just before we landed — the first that had been for many 
weeks. The streets were in a sad condition with mud. 
I never before had seen anything so bad, although 
I cannot say that now — for I have seen worse since in 
America, yet it is the fact that they were almost 
impassable. Fortunately, however, for our subsequent 
comfort, there was one entire night's extremely heavy 
rain, and the next day (Sunday) the city presented 
quite a changed appearance of cleanness. The streets 
generally are much narrower than those in Mel- 
bourne, but numerous fine buildings — both public 
and private — are in them ; indeed, I believe a greater 
number of beautiful structures are to be found in the 
one city than in the other, but very many of them are 
in a measure lost to observation from their position. 
The Town Hall, or, as we would call it, the Municipal 
Buildings, is of great size, with a tower 200 feet high, 
and from a balcony near the top a magnificent view is 
got all over the harbour and its surroundings. It is quite 



66 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

an ornament, in the very centre of the city. The Post 
Office also is an imposing edifice of beautiful con- 
struction, with a collonade of grey granite pillars around 
it. The Museum and Picture Gallery also, and Free 
Library, with 50,000 volumes on its shelves, are handsome 
structures. The streets of Sydney are better paved than 
those of Melbourne, and quite recently the Corporation 
have determined to spend a further sum of two hundred 
thousand pounds in wood paving, which, from the nature 
of the climate, I expect will stand well there. At 
present, also, the city is engaged in a gigantic sanitary 
scheme, whereby the sewage which now pollutes their 
harbour will be carried to the sea coast, some six or 
seven miles away. I called repeatedly at the City 
Surveyor's office to learn the particulars of the under- 
taking, but it was the Easter holidays and I did not 
succeed in finding him. I had the opportunity, however, 
of inspecting the works, which consist mainly of tunnel- 
ling through rock at a considerable depth, and must 
cost a large sum to execute. 

Sydney was originally a penal settlement. It was to 
this point on the Australian coast that the first settlers 
came 100 years ago, after leaving Botany Bay, where 
they originally landed, but which they soon found to be 
unsuitable on account of deficient water supply. We 
were curious to see the place where Captain Cook had 
set up the British flag and took possession of Australia 
for Britain ; one of the branches of the steam tramways 
leads to it. He named it Botany Bay because of the 
great quantity of rare plants which a botanist who accom- 
panied him collected. Our opinion was, that he had 
collected them too carefully, and left none remaining, for 



CAPTAIN COOK — BOTANY BAY — BLUE MOUNTAINS. 67 

it appeared to be the most desolate and barren spot we 
had seen all around the city. For nearly 50 years Sydney 
remained the only port of any consequence in Australia. 
All home and foreign business was transacted there, but 
its rapid rise to a great commercial centre was not 
foreseen, and no proper care seems to have been taken 
in forming the streets upon a regular plan. Perhaps the 
configuration of the ground on which it is built is 
partly the cause. The city is situated upon a penin- 
sula of about a mile and a half in length by half a 
mile in breadth, and being nearly surrounded by deep 
water, its facilities as a maritime port are of the first 
order. It has extensive wharfs and warehouses, and a 
complete system of steam tramways connecting it with 
populous suburbs. Ample railway accommodation also, 
which maintains its intercourse with the country beyond, 
and extending to the border-line of the adjoining colony 
of Victoria. By an unfortunate difference in the gauge 
of the state railways of Victoria and New South Wales, 
the whole traffic is blocked at the boundary, and both 
goods and passengers have to be transferred from the 
carriages on the narrow gauge of the one system to those 
on the broader gauge of the other. The distance by 
rail between the two capitals is 574 miles, and the time 
occupied in travelling is nineteen hours, the fare 8 is. 
first-class, and ten shillings additional for sleeping berth. 
The journey is by no means an interesting one, as much of 
the way is through partially cleared forest, the blackened 
tree stumps and burned bush presenting rather a dreary 
aspect. One railway journey we took from Sydney to 
the Blue Mountains was more attractive — it brought back 
the recollection of the Himalaya railway to Darjeeling—- ■•■ 



68 A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

for here again we were climbing the steep mountain by 
aid of the iron horse. Part of the way up the gradient 
is very great — being I in 30, and that portion of the 
line is called the zig-zag, by reason of its tortuous turn- 
ings, threading its way amongst peaks and crags to the 
mountain top, from whence the view is splendid. The 
zig-zag is considered a marvel of engineering skill, the 
line at parts being on the very brink of a precipice. It 
is said that 5 miles of this portion cost over one hun- 
dred thousand pounds a mile to make ; the fifty miles 
of the Darjeeling railway cost only one hundred and 
fifty thousand altogether ; but this railway has been of 
much service in opening up the country beyond. We 
spent 10 days in and around Sydney. It is a thriving 
city, and appears to be carrying on an extensive trade. 
If Melbourne could be likened to London, with as much 
truth might Sydney be spoken of as resembling Liverpool. 
After returning to Melbourne, we went from thence to 
Geelong, a seaport town on Port Philip Bay, about 40 
miles from Melbourne, and holding communication with 
it by steamboats and railway. Geelong is rather a slow 
place, there being very little stir about it. There are 
some large mills manufacturing woollen goods, and a 
few ships come to load grain, but the town had rather 
a dull look, after having been in Sydney and Melbourne. 
But Geelong, with a population of only ten thousand, 
has a mechanics' institute and a free library, with fifteen 
thousand volumes. From it we went to Ballarat, some 
sixty miles inland, and where at one time much gold 
was found. The whole of the ground for miles around 
has been carefully searched, and had the appearance of 
wrought-out brickfields. Now, the gold is only found 



GEELONG — BALLARAT — GOLD FIELDS — SANDHURST. 69 

at a considerable depth beneath the surface, embedded 
in quartz, which, when brought up, is crushed under 
powerful machinery, and the particles of gold washed 
out. There was one nugget found here that sold for 
£ 10,500. Ballarat — this town in the midst of the 
Australian gold fields — has a mechanics' institute and a 
free library, with twenty-five thousand volumes. Its 
population is forty thousand, and largely composed of 
miners, who seemed to be a quiet, industrious, and 
orderly people. From Ballarat we went to Sandhurst, 
a whole day's journey further inland, and it, too, is 
a great seat of the gold mining industry; it has a 
population of 30,000. It also has its mechanics' institute 
and free library, with ten thousand volumes, besides an 
institution called a School of Mines, with all necessary 
appliances for giving working men instruction in their 
leading industry. In early days Sandhurst, then called 
Bendigo, was a prolific gold field, and numerous large 
finds of gold were made, near the surface, in its 
neighbourhood. Now, however, what' is called alluvial 
searching is all over, and gold is only found at con- 
siderable depths. Two of my party accompanied me to 
the underground workings of the South St. Mungo Mine, 
a hundred fathoms deep, where the miners had just come 
upon a valuable seam of quartz that promised large 
dividends to its shareholders. We were taken to it by a 
gentleman who had gone to Sandhurst from Glasgow 35 
years ago. Not a single house was then erected, the 
entire plain was covered with tents, and many scenes 
of disorder occurred before any settled government was 
instituted. His occupation was that of provision dealer; 
and it was most interesting to hear from him the 



TO A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. 

adventures and almost insurmountable difficulties of 
bringing goods up from Melbourne in bullock waggons, 
a distance of over ioo miles, there being no other road 
than a rough track through the bush, taking sometimes 
a month to traverse. Contrasting that with the well- 
appointed railway which now connects the two cities 
showed no greater change than from the canvas town 
of 30 years ago to the handsome city buildings that are 
now in Sandhurst. Our old Glasgow citizen is now a 
retired man, the possessor of much property. He has 
occupied the Mayor's chair with satisfaction to his fellow- 
citizens, and is still a member of their Town Council. 
He told me he had returned to the old country a few 
years ago, after 25 years' absence, intending to settle 
down here for the rest of his life. Seven months of a 
Scottish climate was all that he could endure. Our 
changeable gloomy weather was too severe a contrast to 
the almost continuous sunshine of Australia, and so he 
went back again to spend his last years in the new 
country of his adoption. I met not a few who had a 
similar experience to relate ; and very many who said, 
" We would like to see the old Country once more ; but 
to stay there permanently, no, that's not good enough." 

It was principally to meet friends in Melbourne that 
our visit to the Colonies was made, otherwise we no 
doubt would have taken the shorter route round the 
world, and gone by China and Japan ; but we were 
amply rewarded in going to the Colonies, not only by 
the great pleasure of meeting those whom we had been 
parted from for more than thirty years, but also in 
seeing the marvellous progress which these young com- 
munities are making. 



' ; OLD COUNTRY" — NATIONAL ANTHEM — "HOME." 71 

Often before I went there had I wondered why our 
friends did not return to this country again. I cannot 
now say that I am surprised at all. In even less time 
than 30 years old ties are partly broken, and new ones 
formed where you live. You have got used to a climate 
so different from that prevailing here — which you now 
feel would be unbearable, and there then remains nothing 
but the sentimental attachment to the country that gave 
you birth; but how strong that attachment is amongst 
the Colonists I had many opportunities of witnessing. I 
shall never forget the delightful surprise I got the first 
Saturday night I was in Melbourne. We went to an 
entertainment in the City Hall, at which three or four 
thousand people were present. At the conclusion of 
the concert the great organ — said to be the fifth largest 
in the world — pealed forth the " National Anthem," 
and the whole audience rose at once to their feet. I 
thought then I had never heard the familiar air sound 
so gloriously. In no other four months of my life have 
I heard it more frequently than during those four months 
I spent in the Colonies. I confess to you that nothing I 
heard or saw when out there was so pleasing and 
surprising as the intense feeling of loyalty manifested 
everywhere — even the very children, who were never out 
of Australia, speak to you with a delighted expectancy 
of some day going " Home." 




